


World of Colors

by soo_ah0110



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bounty Hunters, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Black World, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Falling In Love, Friendship, Humor, Innocence, Loss of Innocence, Love Triangles, M/M, Minor Violence, Multiple Arks, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, White World, friends like family, haters to lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-18 19:09:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 36,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29494836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soo_ah0110/pseuds/soo_ah0110
Summary: The world was divided. It’s not some poetical or metaphorical sentence. It’s the bare truth. The Great War happened long before Chae Hyungwon was born. It divided the world into Whites and Blacks… and it had absolutely nothing to do with skin tone. Whites lived in a perfect peaceful world, while Blacks were savages and throat-cutting monsters... at least that's what they taught to all the Whites, so why does Hyungwon doubt the universal truth?Hyungwon doesn't think he was born to be a White. So what happens when he decides he wants to escape the perfect White world, wishing to see colors and be allowed to feel emotions, even though he properly doesn’t know what they are? Who will he meet on the other side of the Wall? What his life will be like after he meets people he thinks he can trust? What dangers await him, trying to end his life pre-maturely? Will he find that thing he didn't even know he was looking for all along?*rating may change*
Relationships: Chae Hyungwon/Im Changkyun | I.M, Chae Hyungwon/Lee Hoseok | Wonho, Lee Jooheon/Lee Minhyuk, Son Hyunwoo | Shownu/Yoo Kihyun
Comments: 41
Kudos: 41





	1. Welcome to the White World

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, dear readers. Welcome to a new story of mine that I decided to call (as you can see by the title) 'World of Colors'. In this dystopian story I would like to take you for a spin with some emotional issues as well as major character development, the hunger for power of human beings and many more that I don't want to name here for the sake of not wanting to spoil this story before it even began. 🤫🤭
> 
> This story is meant to be a journey of self-discovery as well as a little bit of a romance, with a lot of friendship and hopefully I will make you laugh (or chuckle or smile) once in a while. 😄
> 
> As always, in all of my stories, I encourage interaction as I love to talk to you guys in the comments, so please don't be shy and leave your opinions down there. And without further ado I hope we can meet each other here often and that you like this story enough to always come back to read the new chapter. Let's go! ✌🤗

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this first chapter we only see Hyungwon's life, but I really wanted to give you his background since he's the main character and his life and personality should be known so that the story can be better later.
> 
> Never the less I hope you enjoy it!

Hyungwon woke up in a white bed, covered in white sheets and positioned in a white room. As he stood up from the bed, his feet hit the white cold floor. He got dressed into the white uniform that everyone else wore and afterwards he left his white room, only to walk down the white stairs and into a white kitchen of his white house, where his mom was already running around in a white uniform of her own that looked the same as Hyungwon’s.

“Good morning, Hyungwon. Ready for school?” she asked the same question she would ask every morning of the week with the same white enthusiasm. Hyungwon didn’t know why but he often didn’t feel the gift of the mornings that his mother did, and Hyungwon dared to say all of the Whites did. Maybe he was just weird, he told himself more often than not.

Hyungwon’s younger brother appeared in the door to the kitchen and smiled at their mother. He came over to her and smiled at her politely and cheerfully, just like every morning. He sat on the white stool at the white table beside Hyungwon and greeted him with an overly well-mannered: “Good morning, brother.” Their mother sat a white plate with a white bread covered with white spread in front of them, just like every morning. Hyungwon had never admitted it out loud but he was getting annoyed by doing the same thing every single day.

He had confessed that once before when he had been just a child and he got chastised by his mother so bad he didn’t speak for the whole month. He only shook and nodded his head in answer, worried he would say something wrong again. That was when he noticed for the first time that his mind worked differently.

And he did the same to his brother this morning - a simple nod of acknowledgment of his presence next to him. After all, he did learn the hard way that it was better to stay silent if he couldn’t say what was supposed to be said. And people have accepted him that way - many often said it was the charm of his cool character that will bring him places, because to them he looked ambitious. Hyungwon would call it an annoyed phlegmatic attitude - definitely not a trait a White should have.

The history class Hyungwon was currently sitting in was a big white lecture hall with white desks and students dressed in white uniforms, sitting properly with straight backs at their seats without any fidgeting. Hyungwon was barely listening to the teacher talking about the Old War that has divided the world; he was more fascinated by the girl with naturally copper hair in front of him and the girl’s dark brown skin next to her. The vibrant color of copper was loudly screaming from all the white clothes in the room and the dark brown skin of the girl next to her sat underneath her clothes in great contrast. Hyungwon was taken aback by how colorful things could get if they were just allowed to be colorful.

But many people didn’t. They would dye their hair white and wear white contact lenses to blend in better with the rest of the white world. Hyungwon was lucky and incredibly happy his mother said it would be a waste of time for Hyungwon since his hair grew with the speed of sound. She said that cutting his this dark hair was already a bi-weekly hustle and she couldn’t dye it as well.

And even though Hyungwon was paying all that much attention to the lecture (because frankly, everyone already knew pretty much everything about the Old War anyway), he was still absent-mindedly taking notes into his white notebook with a _grey_ pencil. That was the only thing that everyone could posses that had _color_. Hyungwon’s notebook was the only one in the whole class that had small doodles in the corners of the pages.

All of his classmates held the pencil the same way, their handwritings were almost the same and their notebooks looked alike, the same neat notes covered pages. No one ever cheated or copied anything or asked for a sentence to be repeated. Hyungwon sometimes felt like he sat in class with clones, even if they didn’t look alike. They all thought and acted identical, as if they were one person. Some of his classmates had a darker skin tone; some of them had hair with undertones of a warm color that Hyungwon didn’t know the name of, because it was lost in the history of the Whites.

But their hair and skin tones did nothing to the fact they all wore the same clothes - straight white pants that were always ironed and never crinkled; a white button up shirt, in spring, fall and winter with long sleeve and short sleeves were acceptable on hot summer days; a white sweater that had no shape and it was worn for warmth in the colder months; and finally a white blazer or a white coat as outerwear depending on the weather conditions.

“... We have always been peaceful and lived our lives calmly, going about our days. The Blacks have started the Old War, which led to pointless bloodshed and the falling out of brothers. And so, we separated. For the good of all of our people we have built a tall wall and everything stayed White. Now, it’s been more than a hundred and fifty years that we live in the shadow of our wall and we haven’t had a single conflict among us. We live in peace and we don’t go around creating problems for one another. But on the other side of the wall the Blacks keep creating conflicts and they still fight among each other for power,” the teacher lectured the class in a proud voice, while locking eyes with each of the students in the lecture hall, even if it was just for a split second. Then she turned to her table and laid the white paper, which she had been holding the entire time onto a top of a very neat pile. She put it on top in such a manner that not a single corner was out of line - all perfect. “And that is all for today, students. We’ll see each other tomorrow.”

History class was Hyungwon’s last one for the day, just like every day. The school finished at half past 4 in the afternoon and _just like every day_ , his younger brother was already waiting for him outside the building entrance so the two can walk home together. When they arrive at home they would help their mother prepare dinner and set the table. _Just like every day._

On their way home, the heavy rain clouds in the sky rumbled and Hyungwon turned to look up. “I’m sure it’s going to rain tonight,” he mumbled to himself. The white streets would turn grey, but even that will soon go away, because there would be someone, who cleaned the streets and roads to make them white again. Just like every time it rained

They walked in silence, politely bowing and greeting people they knew. The Whites were always polite and serene and it somewhat annoyed him. And even though Hyungwon was brought up as a White, he hated being one. He’s never told anyone that he’s been having dreams, in which he would see colors he couldn’t name; items he thought looked old and dangerous but he couldn’t find the names of even in old history books (which weren’t that old really); and he would even meet people, who smiled wryly at him and he felt warmth whenever they occurred in his dream. He was never able to picture their faces the following morning but a feeling of belonging and friendship was always present, even though Hyungwon never really had friends in his life… at least not good ones. The people in his dreams treated him well and as if he was a part of their group, but unfortunately he knew he’s never met any of them, he thought he would know; that he would feel it in his gut if he had met them.

These dreams were not an every night thing, they were in fact quite irregular but they always made Hyungwon feel more and more like he didn’t belong to the place he was born in. Strangely, after those nights when he had these dreams, he felt more rested than ever.

He sighed as he reached his white house with his brother by his side and made their way inside, taking their white shoes off and entered the white kitchen yet again. It was five minutes before 5PM and Hyungwon with his younger brother went to help their mother prepare the dinner immediately, because the dinner was always served at half past five o’clock and it was the same every single day. All colors have been extracted from the food so that it looked as white as possible. The taste was bland and Hyungwon didn’t know what salty, sweet, sour or spicy even meant. He’s only heard those words describing the food in his dreams. He remembered them when we woke up and noted them down right away to try and find in the dictionary of historical words. Only to be unsuccessful when he tried. That was one of the first times Hyungwon realized how much censorship was used in the world he lived in.

“Hyungwon, how was your day?” his father asked him

 _White,_ he wanted to reply sarcastically, but he bit his tongue, because it was yet another thing that the Whites didn’t do. Jokes and sarcasm weren’t appreciated or understood… at all. So Hyungwon answered the same way he _always_ had: “Excellent.”

“It is good to have an excellent day every day. One is always in a better mood then, is it not right, Hyungwon?”

Hyungwon nodded his head as a silent answer. The way his father spoke was so proper and uptight that on worse days Hyungwon just wanted to break something. But of course he couldn’t do that, showing emotions as a White was frowned upon. The only emotion you could ever show was a slight hint of happiness. Lying was prohibited and punishable if proven guilty of it, truthfulness was taken for granted and it was said that emotions were signs of lying and honesty was the sign of purity and politeness.

Hyungwon’s mother tore him out of the thinking process about the White truth, who asked the same question to his younger brother as his father asked him to answer. “At Historical Studies we have watched some archive videos of the Blacks from before the Great War. Most of us were terrified by the things they used to do back then. Fights, murders, offends, alcohol and other horrible things. I wasn’t terrified, though, I was rather put-off actually. How could anyone beat someone else or even kill them? It’s horrible and when I even thought for a moment that this still goes on behind the Wall, I felt sickened.”

“Oh, my dear son, you do not have to worry about that,” his mother smiled at him softly and laid a hand on his shoulder, appreciating his sympathy for the ugly world the Blacks lived in. “When you finish school and you get older, your view on the things will change. The Blacks are behind the Wall and they cannot hurt our peace any longer. And that is the right thing.”

 _His view will change? How can age change something that is forcefully suggested into the mind of all people during their childhood? All the children are taught to hate the Blacks, to despise the world they live in, to love and appreciate the White world. As they get older they only act as if they didn’t care, but just try to convince them otherwise and you’ll never be heard of again. I’m sure of it,_ Hyungwon thought to himself as he kept eating silently.

He wanted to hear more, to learn more about the Blacks, but he knew he wouldn’t be told more… mainly because his parents didn’t know more. They were some of the most typical Whites there were. No one would ever tell Hyungwon more in fact. All they were allowed to know about the Blacks were the ‘bad’ things - fights, murders, alcohol, something called tattoos (but Hyungwon had no idea what that was), piercings (also another thing Hyungwon was in the dark about), clothing different for each person (which apparently led to envy, which then drove them to all the crimes there), no firmly set laws and many other things that Hyungwon was unfamiliar with.

_Are they really as bad as the Whites make them?_

After dinner Hyungwon and his brother went to their rooms to study, just like every day. Study or read. However today, the dinner was different from others as it lit up a spark in Hyungwon’s mind. He wanted to know _more_ … and so a plan came to his mind.

When he entered his room, he packed his white bag, which now contained a couple of white books, notebooks with white papers and pencils.

He came to the white living room where his parents drank their white tea from their white cups, dressed in their white clothes in complete silence. They looked at Hyungwon when he entered.

“I have to go to the library. I have homework for the History class tomorrow,” he stated..

“Alright,” his mother replied.

“But make sure to come before the curfew,” his father reminded him.

“Of course,” he left the living room and when he was putting on his white shoes, hit mother called out to him.

“Take an umbrella!”

So Hyungwon grabbed a basic white umbrella and put it into his bag.

On his way to the library he would steal glances at the Whites passing by. No one was ever in a rush to get somewhere and no one was ever late. The Whites were always on time.

The only public transport in Hyungwon’s city was the subway, which in the average sized city served well to get everyone where they needed to go and always on time. There were a lot of stops and the trains were quiet during their journey underground. The subway was safe and it didn’t threaten anyone’s life as it was with the old machines called ‘cars’ and ‘buses’ because they could crash into something or someone at any given time. The quietness of the train was one of the signs of Whites’ technological advancement and everything in the city was modern and updated at all times.

Hyungwon calmly walked down the steps leading to the platform where several other Whites were already waiting for the underground train to arrive. Somebody tapped him on the shoulder, which woke Hyungwon up from his thoughts. He turned around and noticed one of his classmates. “Hello. Where are you going?” he asked.

“The library,” Hyungwon replied politely, yet coldly, hoping his classmate would get the hint.

But not everyone was like Hyungwon. Some people definitely did not know how to get _the hint_. “I was not at school today. It is my birthday so I went to get the identification card.”

“Happy birthday,” Hyungwon replied politely.

“Thank you! You already have yours, right?”

“Yes. I have had it for 2 years now.” The Whites got their identification cards when they reached 18 years of age and it was considered as reaching adulthood. Most people would usually have a great dinner with their family, but in reality having the card only allowed access to certain part of the library and allowed you to register marriage and some other official processes. There was nothing really all that special about it. Or at least Hyungwon felt like that.

“And what did you do at school today?” he questioned Hyungwon again and the tall boy just wished the stupid train would already arrive, so he didn’t have to answer a person, who just couldn’t politely mind his own business. They weren’t even friends.

“Not much,” came an answer from Hyungwon followed by a stale smile. Then finally, oh finally, the subway number 3 came, which would take him to the library. “I have to go. See you at school,” he bowed with manners to his classmate and boarded the train without looking back.

When Hyungwon arrived at the library through the main entrance, the only thing he could see was the brighter than bright whiteness - white bookcases with white shelves that held books with white covers. He could stand there day and night and he would never, ever discover another color, of course if he didn’t count the dark letters printed on the white pages and the color of skin and hair of other citizens.

Then Hyungwon’s reason for his visit occurred to him, but he had no idea where to begin his search. The best thing he could do right now was to find an empty desk, preferably a little more secluded so he can work on his research in peace and then look for a librarian to help him with acquiring materials.

Leaving his jacket and bag at the desk he claimed, he thought to himself: _Maybe I should start with the maps?_

“Good evening. I am looking for maps. Could you please navigate me to the section?” he asked a librarian seated at her designated desk after he approached her.

“Good evening,” she greeted him back with all politeness. “You will find maps and books explaining them in section H.” Whites were always eager to help and did it kindly. That was what Hyungwon has always been taught and there were times when instances in which helping was the last thing he wanted to do haunted him followed by his mother’s strong word of teaching him manners.

Hyungwon went over to section H and read the backs of the books on shelves and register of maps available, however he found none that he needed. So he went back to the librarian.

“Excuse me, but is there any chance I could see maps that show the world before the Great War? Even if just shortly before?” Hyungwon politely approached the White lady.

She gazed at him a little confused because no one has asked for anything like that and Hyungwon began to feel unsure if the library even owned maps such as those that he was seeking. “Follow me,” she told him as she got up from her desk and led Hyungwon to the back of the library.

Even the air in that section was as dull as the lighting. It was obvious that part was rarely used and many books were even stacked on the floor, which made the space look more like an old storage rather than a part of a respected library.

Fifteen minutes later (and about a hundred dust induced coughs later), Hyungwon was back at the small desk with both old and new maps, along with a book that explained how to read old maps because those seemed very different from the ones Whites used nowadays.

Studying the maps meticulously paid off. Hyungwon found out that his city was no further than 12 kilometers from the Wall and according to the old map there should be a Black city about 15 more kilometers west from the wall. Everything that Hyungwon read about people from before the Great War sounded exactly like his history class books and yet he didn’t want to believe that it was all true. It couldn’t have all been bad.

So he decided to dig in a little further (well, a lot further and deeper actually). Suddenly, Hyungwon felt as if he was possessed by something to find a thing that might not exist at all.

But what if it existed? What if there was another truth? If so, which one would be the correct one? Which one should he believe?

Many hours, even more pages flipped and notes written down, Hyungwon woke up from his trance and realized it was half an hour before the night time curfew and he had to rush back home. Citizens younger than 21 were not allowed to stay outside for longer than half past 10 in the evening, outside of cases of emergency of course. Hyungwon would turn 21 in 3 months.

The fact that he only had half an hour to get back home was very problematic for Hyungwon at this point because his journey home would take him about 45 minutes. But then again, if he ran across the subway platforms and outside as well he might just about make it. However, running also meant that the umbrella he carried would have to be folded and he would get wet, which would in turn mean his clothes wouldn’t remain white. At this point, Hyungwon could not care less about his clothes. He had to make it home before the curfew so that neither he nor his parents got in trouble if he got caught outside. He didn’t know what kind of a trouble and punishment he might be looking at (because frankly, Whites just followed the rules to the dot every single day) but he didn’t want to risk it anyway.

Maybe Hyungwon wasn’t even as White as he might have seemed because he would often lose his way and then arrive late to wherever he was going, but that was more to be blamed on his will not to care.

Hyungwon ran out of the library, uncaring about who might see him, hoping he would catch the train scheduled in two minutes, which if he did he would probably make it home on time. He promised himself that if he came home on time he would take the trip over the Wall.

For the first time in his life, Hyungwon ran in full speed as if something deadly was chasing him and his life depended on him getting away from it. It was a race with one of the most vicious enemies that never waited for anyone - time.

If he was seen by any of his father’s colleagues or his mother’s old school friends he would get in trouble with his parents for inappropriate behavior in the streets but he didn’t care. He only wanted to stand up to the promise that he just made to himself.

Hyungwon wished for nothing else that to get behind the Wall.

It must have been the first time ever since he was born into this White world that he finally admitted to wanting to leave it behind and he couldn’t tell anyone, because if the authorities found out, Hyungwon would be executed along with his whole family.

He knew he wasn’t born to be White. He wanted to know what was behind the Wall, what the Black world looked like, even if he was to die the first day he got there, which was highly possible, now that he came to think of it.

When Hyungwon opened the door to his house he was completely out of breath, soaked through because of the light drizzling rain changing into a torrential pour down as he exited the subway station, which wouldn’t be that big of a deal since the clock opposite the door showed exactly ten-thirty… one. _Damn it!_ Hyungwon thought.

His mother was just passing from the living room into the kitchen and his father raised brows at him from the armchair in which he was sitting, in the exact same position as when Hyungwon was leaving for the library.

“Were you caught in the rain?” his father questioned him with his brows raised.

“Yes, unfortunately. It’s raining as if it never would again,” Hyungwon replied politely. “The weather in the 10th mounth isn’t usually this bad.”

“Go dry yourself and place the clothes by the washing machine. They need to be cleaned, they’re not white anymore,” his mother told him with a soft voice, but the reminder of his clothes not having a pristine cleanliness to their color made Hyungwon roll his eyes the very moment he turned his back to his parents and headed to the laundry room, where yet again everything was white - except Hyungwon… he hasn’t felt White ever since he was a child.

Another week passed by but unlike the other ones of his past almost 21 years of life, Hyungwon spent every evening in the library searching for maps and reading old books about survival. Some of them dated to before the war and those were the ones Hyungwon focused on, even though they did look as if no one has read them in the long time. On top of which he also couldn’t believe that there would be so few of them, which meant they must have been censored and blacklisted.

Although he couldn’t get all the information he needed to know how to properly survive a night in a hostile forest, he knew the basics - keep warm and dry, have water and if you weren’t sure if you could drink it safely, then you shouldn’t. He had to make it… he just had to.

However there was also one more question Hyungwon hadn’t managed to solve just yet - how to get over the wall? Yes, he could reach it but what then? It was a 50 meter tall smooth white wall that was visible from the guard posts, so there was no actual way of climbing it. Hyungwon struggled with this question for the last 5 days.

As he was flipping through one of the older books he noticed scribbles on the margins of the pages and underlined words. He sat up straight, his alertness rising as he focused on the neat handwriting.

 _Whites never vandalize anything. How old is this?_ Hyungwon thought to himself.

The writings were pieces of sentences and words, some of them made sense some were complete nonsense. Couple minutes of staring the pencil scribbled letters, Hyungwon began to see a pattern.

His smirked when he finally noticed what the whole thing was about. If he wanted an answer from these notes and drawings he had to decipher it. He took a piece of white paper and a pencil and began to draft out what he thought the pattern of the author was.

Hyungwon had to give it to the person - it was difficult to decode and get to the root because it kept changing the way it wound around the page and the underlined words. However, Hyungwon was successful in the end and it only took him took 3 hours to break down what the author had been trying to hide.

Or so he thought.

Because once he had written it down and it made sense in sentences, it didn’t make sense in what it was saying. It was guiding Hyungwon around the library, telling him which book to pick where, but he didn’t even have to go take them to know they were absolutely unrelated to each other.

In either case, Hyungwon found these instructions way too peculiar to not go give it a shot. So he rose from his table and made his way to section F, which was the closest to him and started to look for the book the note-author/’vandal’ guided him to.

He found a thick book about garment construction and his brows knitted together in confusion. “Clothes?” he whispered to himself and glanced back to the paper he was holding and clicked his tongue.

Hyungwon returned to his seat empty handed and flipped through the book with the guide once again, biting his bottom lip in concentration. “What am I missing?” he asked the air in a hushed voice.

Then, like a ray of bright light he saw it - in the very back of the book there was a clue which read _‘co-ordinates’_. Hyungwon almost shot out of the desk chair, but then he remembered his good White manners and he quietly stood up and went to the first book on the list and once he saw it he was so close to slapping himself on the forehead for not noticing it earlier.

“Numbers. The books have evidential numbers and they make position date. Oh, Hyungwon, you dummy,” he shook his head as he scolded himself quietly. He then proceeded to make careful note of every number that the notes asked him to write down in perfect order, double checking before continuing to the next book.

Once he was done with all of the books on the list, Hyungwon returned to the desk he occupied and pulled out a map. Drawing carefully on his copy of the map, he began to manually search for the spot on the map the co-ordinates would lead him to.

To his utmost surprise the spot it lead him to wasn’t far from his city - in fact it was dead right on the wall. Hyungwon’s face was decorated once again with the expression of confusion. _Why would the note-author point to a spot at the wall?_

With a small shake of his head, Hyungwon started to flip through the cook again, looking for another carefully hidden clue. Minutes later, he was still at a complete loss and he was ready to give up with a heavy sigh when he looked at his paper, just grabbing anything he could, desperate to solve this mystery.

Only then he noticed one last scribble at the contents page of the book, which he hadn’t paid any attention to before. With one more huff he sat up straight again and got to work on breaking down the code one more time, thinking it would lead him to more numbers.

Thinking he was looking for numbers, Hyungwon got up once again after deciphering the cryptogram only to be stunned paler than he already was when he found out that it was not about numbers. This time the clues led him to a simple sentence that left Hyungwon satisfied and happy for the first time in a long time.

_Follow me out._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So how was the first chapter? Did you like it? Were you as annoyed as Hyungwon when everything was white? Did you imagine what a world that could be? Were you excited when Hyungwon found the code? 🤭🤔
> 
> Please share your thoughts and opinions with me in the comments. I really enjoy reading every single comment and I love having the chance to interact with you! 🥰🤗🤍
> 
> Next time: Hyungwon makes the trip... what can happen, right?
> 
> I really hope you enjoyed today's chapter and hopefully you'll come back to find out what happens next! Until then stay safe and take careヾ(￣▽￣) Bye~Bye~


	2. Follow Me Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there! 🤗 The second chapter is here and I hope you enjoy it~~

_Follow me out. Follow me out. Follow me out._

The words rang in Hyungwon's mind until he went to sleep that night.

_Could it mean there's a hole in the wall in the spot the co-ordinates led him to? What if I didn't count it right?_

Even though Hyungwon doubted himself slightly he was sure he copied the numbers correctly. He counted the coordinates multiple times and he always got the same place on the map, but he just couldn't help but wonder if it was too good to be true. He was worried that he would risk his disappearance in the middle of the night, the 10km run through the woods, high possibility of injury and whatever the punishment for trying to escape the White country just to not find anything in the end. Maybe find himself caught in a carefully set up trap.

But what was even the punishment for trying to escape? Hyungwon has never heard of anyone that tried to get out, because who would want to get out of a perfect country, right? Right? But then again if one tried would they make an exemplary out of him? Hyungwon wished he would have an answer to at least one of the many questions that swarmed his mind in this moment as he laid restless on his white bed in his white room, dressed in his white sleeping clothes.

He sighed heavily watching the white ceiling in the dark night, hoping it would give him any kind of feedback on his thinking, but he desired something he couldn't get and he knew it. As he finally began falling asleep one final thought was keeping the last of his awoken part of mind up: _I am going to take the risk._ __  
  


Hyungwon opened his eyes into another white morning in his white room. With a heavy sigh he sat up and thought back to the events of the night prior and even though he considered every bad outcome that could come true there was only determination to follow the code-author out, just like the last clue asked him to. If there was a chance of escaping the endless whiteness he would take it even if he faced the punishment of death.

The hole was supposed to be only short 10 km west from the borders of his city. Hyungwon knew he could run that in about one and a half hour in forest terrain, but he still had to pack a bag to take with him because he had no idea what awaited him on the other side. Yes, he has seen an old map but who could say that it was still accurate to this date? It was very highly likely that he would have to spend at least one night in the woods, so he had to take some warm and dry clothes. This year's 10th month’s weather was rainier that other years, so it was clear what he would need to pack, but he also had to do it when no one could see him and also plan the time when he would leave, preferably in the next couple of days before the temperatures drop too far toward freezing point because the last thing he wanted to do was to run in a winter coat or in the much celebrated snow.

Celebrated, you ask? Why yes, the Whites celebrated the arrival of snow because everything got even whiter and even quieter.

He decided he would go back to the library today after school again to read through the mysterious notes one more time. Maybe he would be lucky enough to get some more information. Hyungwon didn't even know what he would be looking for but he simply wanted to check he didn't miss anything or perhaps he could check one of the nearby stacked books in the bookshelf for more of the same person's notes. Maybe the books knew more. There was always that chance and as long as there was one, Hyungwon was not just going to simply pass it over. 

After one more trip to the library, Hyungwon was sure of how to proceed with his plan. He would eat dinner with his family (to gain enough energy to get through the forest under the cover of darkness), then go to sleep early blaming the study load (he knew his parents wouldn’t be suspicious as they had never anything to be suspicious about) and when both his mother and father retired to their respective beds, Hyungwon would wait until midnight to sneak out of the house.

It wasn’t a fool proof plan, by all means no. But it was the best one Hyungwon could come up with and he needed to act fast before winter would make it too difficult for him.

“Oh my, Hyungwon, you sure ate a lot today,” his mother smiled dearly at her son at the dinner table, where Hyungwon ate all that was on his place, including seconds.

“I was very hungry, mother. Thank you for the meal,” he replied with all the kindness he could put together. He couldn’t say he wouldn’t miss her, but the longing for his mother was _by far_ _not_ as strong as his desire for freedom, his craving for knowing what colors looked like.

“Of course,” she picked his white plate up for him and placed it in the white sink.

“May I go to my room?” Hyungwon politely demanded, standing up from the table. “I have some more studying to do and I feel rather tired. I will read some more and then I will go to bed soon.”

“No problem, Hyungwon. I just hope you haven’t caught a cold in the rain somewhere,” his mother worried about him.

“I don’t think so. It’s just exhausting to study for so many exams,” Hyungwon contradicted her. He didn’t need her to go check his room in the middle of the night, now did he?

“That’s good then. It is free day tomorrow, so get as much rest as you need,” she told him and allowed him to leave the white kitchen to go to his white room.

As he walked up the white stairs he suddenly remembered it _was_ free day tomorrow, which meant there was no school, only homework to do and Whites, who have finished their education would not have to go to work either tomorrow.

This played a little into Hyungwon’s hands as now he had even a little more time in the morning before his parents get alarmed by his sudden disappearance. So with a small smile, Hyungwon opened the white door to his white room, carefully closing it behind him and began to pack the things he supposed he would need into his school backpack, thinking it would be the easiest to carry.

He prepared the evidence of him doing homework, while he waited for an appropriate time to call it ‘an early night’ and go wash himself into the white bathroom.

The midnight struck and Hyungwon shot out of bed and listened to the silence that occupied the white house that he wouldn’t call his own anymore after tonight, but he felt no remorse or regret whatsoever. He effectively snuck out of the house into the cold and wet night of the 10th month, but he thanked all the heavens that it stopped raining. The ground in the forest would be muddy and slippery but at least it didn’t rain anymore.

The very moment Hyungwon stepped out of his house, he tried to stick to the shadows and yet run as fast as he could. He realized he wasn’t some stealthy hero he used to read about when he was a kid… but he _was_ one of the fastest runners in his class even when he had no motivation to run anywhere.

Hyungwon reached the borders of Second White City after less than 10 minutes. The easy part of the run was done. Hyungwon perhaps was a fast runner but trail running was a completely different set of skills that Hyungwon didn’t really possess, especially at night on muddy and slippery ground… he wondered for a split moment if anybody even had a skill like that among the Whites. No one needed to go run into the forest, in fact many people avoided it in fear of getting their clothes dirty.

Setting the first footstep onto the muddy ground was accompanied by the first and last doubt fleeting through Hyungwon’s mind and for a very, very short moment Hyungwon considered going back to the white house and into his warm white bed. But it was gone as fast as it occurred and Hyungwon’s determination to go try a different life, hopefully one that would suit him more than this monotonous one suddenly became stronger than before.

He made it through the initial grassy terrain without any harm and only a couple short minutes after running out of the city, he has made it into the shadows of the thickly growing trees. The forest was even darker than Hyungwon expected but he decided to proceed nonetheless, remembering everything he read in the book that was currently on the top of his closed bag. Making the decision to take the book out of the library was not an easy one, but he knew it was the right one. There was no way he could risk somebody finding out, where he went way too soon after he ran from the city in case they check his records at the library. If the book was gone, they would have a more difficult time finding a place to look for him, he was sure of that.

Even though Hyungwon wasn’t entirely sure he was going in the correct direction, he knew he was approaching the wall because the trees were more and more densely growing, making it hard for him to run. So rather than pointlessly pushing himself to go fast, Hyungwon decided on a strategy that safer was faster, even if it was a little slower.

In the first hour of his forest hike (the climbing over the roots and stones made of hard for him to consider it a walk anymore and the speed was definitely slower than the one of a run), Hyungwon almost slipped twice and had to stop once to catch a breath after having to go up a very slippery muddy hillside.

Not knowing where he was, Hyungwon stopped for the second time and looked around himself but saw nothing but trees and darkness. He was dirty and his feet were soaked. He wasn’t particularly tired but his energy wasn’t the same as at the beginning, however his will to not remain a White was the same.

He desperately wanted to sit down and rest for a bit, but he told himself he would rest after he got over the wall. So instead, he focused his eyes a little better to see something in the darkness that covered the forest. His eyes were long adjusted to the amount of light that was hitting his pupils so the faint moonlight that came through the almost bared trees allowed him to see fairly clearly what was where.

And then he saw it - the bleak whiteness in front of him, only about 50 meters away.

“The Wall!” Hyungwon exclaimed in the silence of the woods, his voice echoed through the night. He stiffened slightly as if he was waiting for something to come his way but nothing appeared, so after breathing in one more time, bursting with new energy Hyungwon set out towards the goal that was before him.

The Wall opened up wide in front of him, but the sudden realization hit Hyungwon that he had absolutely no idea where he was considering the placement of the co-ordinates. Taking out the book with the code and his notes, Hyungwon tried to read them carefully, but even 15 minutes later no clue was discovered.

He sighed and groaned softly in frustration, turning his head up to the cloudless night sky. And he was so thankful he did so, because that was when he found the numbers on the wall. Glancing left and right he saw them decrease going to his left and increase beginning on his right. The first co-ordinate of the hole was 62 and Hyungwon was standing close to 65.

So making the decision to go down the numbers following the wall, but still covered in the shadows of the trees at least slightly, Hyungwon set out.

Once he reached 63, Hyungwon carefully and cautiously walked closer to the wall, but when he reached 62, he was shocked to see there was nothing. He encountered no hole.

“Could it be they found it and patched it up?” Hyungwon asked the wind. Clicking his tongue he turned around and tracking back up to 63, not wanting to give up so damn easily.

It was his second trip up when he finally noticed it.

There was a small stream of water coming from beneath the wall and logically it shouldn’t be able to because according to what he had been taught in history class, the wall was based 5 meters below the ground.

Setting his backpack onto the ground Hyungwon began to remove the leaves from the top of the water stream and to his surprise not long after he started ‘digging’ the leaves turned into a branch-made cover.

Hyungwon couldn’t possibly smile brighter. He wanted to laugh out loud but he didn’t allow it in fear somebody could hear him. He picked up the cover and very much indeed - there was a hole in the wall.

The ragged edges looked uneven and yet smooth and round, Hyungwon caught himself thinking about how such a hole could come to be.

“It can’t be dug out with force… there would be cracks in the stone. So how?”

But he had no time to waste thinking about this. He glanced into the opening that looked more like a tunnel and realized he would have to crawl through to get onto the other side. The tunnel was about 10 meters long and Hyungwon supposed there would be the same kind of cover on the other side, because he saw no light at the end of it… but that could also be caused by the lack of daylight, right?

Placing his backpack into the tunnel first Hyungwon crawled in and with extremely great effort managed to somehow replace the cover back on. He didn’t completely understand how the person before him did that but it was necessary, because unless someone was specifically looking for a tunnel in the Wall, like Hyungwon, they would never simply just find it by accident if it was covered.

It must have taken Hyungwon maybe even 20 minutes to reach the end of the tunnel, since he had to first move his bag and then crawl forward, then repeat and repeat. It was tiring and Hyungwon even had to use a lot of force to beat the cover out on the other side of the tunnel.

Somehow he managed to do it though and he found himself on the other side of the Wall.

Breathing heavily Hyungwon stood up and looked around himself once again. The forest looked almost identical but still he began to laugh from sheer happiness.

“I made it. I made it,” he chanted recklessly and with a small sigh laughed some more. He turned around to cover the hole, noticing writings on the wall around it.

 _Good luck,_ it read.

“Thank you, code author. Truly… thanks,” Hyungwon smiled at the message on the wall and carefully covering the tunnel exit.

He walked a few more steps to the next tree where he finally sat down and just rested for a bit. The strangest thing was that the forest on this side of the Wall wasn’t silent. There was rustling in the leaves on the trees and Hyungwon swore he could hear something else as well.

“Could it be animals?”

Nevertheless, Hyungwon allowed himself to close his eyes, even if just for a moment and relax his tensed shoulders as he sat back against the trunk of a tree. With small exhale he could feel a little bit of energy leave him as he drifted off to sleep.

Hyungwon awoke with a jolt when a droplet of water hit his face. At first he was confused but quickly he realized he was still at the same tree where he had sat down some time ago. He had no idea how long he slept for but nevertheless felt quite rested.

Slowly he stood up from the ground and hoisted his backpack onto his bag and decided on a simple direction of his next walk - away from the Wall.

Hyungwon treaded the woods carefully, trying to avoid slippery grounds that he could fall onto and due to this, his pace from before was long gone, but in the back of his mind Hyungwon knew there wasn’t a place he had to rush to. Yes, he would be hungry eventually but the human body could go on without food for weeks, although he would lose energy.

The light began to ever so slowly change and Hyungwon realized it would be dawn soon, but thinking about the speed of his steps, he must have been at least 4km from the wall, so his heart was beating with tranquility. The sky was heavy with dark clouds and he supposed there wouldn’t be a lot of natural light today.

Suddenly there was a loud rustling on his 7o’clock and Hyungwon rapidly turned around watching the forest with wary eyes.

“Probably another animal,” he mumbled to himself to keep his mind calm.

Turning back around he made one more step before he was knocked down to the ground with so much force his head rang when it hit the mud beneath. A heavy grunt escaped his lips and he opened his eyes to find out what tackled him to the ground so aggressively.

There was a man next to him, who groaned in frustration and inconvenience as he sat up and directed his eyes at Hyungwon, who felt fear soar through him as the other looked slightly angry and Hyungwon has never dealt with anyone’s anger and he for sure didn’t know how he could do it now. And yet… he was curious about the reason for this person to attack him like this, so he didn’t back away in fear of having the option of coming to harm, rather he just stayed and kept staring, waiting for something to happen.

“What are you? Are you stupid? Don’t you know these are our grounds?” the man barked in his direction and at that point Hyungwon began to panic, trying to crawl away backwards slightly.

Hyungwon nervously glanced around, eyes wide, hoping that something would help him understand or find something that he could say in his defense. “Uhhh…”

“Wait,” the person exclaimed and his facial expression changed to something Hyungwon would call ‘surprised’ as he looked him up and down in the dim light of the morning forest. “Why are you wearing that color? Do you wanna get caught if you’re on the run?”

“Uhm, I…” there was nothing else that Hyungwon could get out of himself before glancing down to his clothes, seeing nothing wrong with them except the fact that they were all dirty from mud and leaves, being no longer white, “don’t have any other clothes.”

“Huh??” the other raised his brows in confusion and leaned in closer to Hyungwon. “No way!” he suddenly shouted. “You’re a White!”

“Um, yes,” Hyungwon confirmed lacking all confidence he could’ve had if he had encountered the man under different circumstances.

The guy began to laugh in disbelief as if he just won the biggest jackpot in lottery history. “Wow! Just wow!” Then he stood up and extended his hand towards Hyungwon to help him stand up too.

Hyungwon hesitated in taking the hand, not knowing what the discovery of him being a White would do to the situation he was currently in.

The other man in dark clothes, smiled kindly and friendly, making a warm feeling spread through Hyungwon, who had no idea why but it was as if instinct told him it was okay to trust the guy, who was offering him to help him stand up. So the frown on Hyungwon’s face disappeared as he cautiously took the man’s hand and let himself be pulled off of the wet ground. “Thank you.”

“No problem,” the man began to brush of some dirt and stray leaves off of Hyungwon’s once white jacket. “Follow me, uh… what’s your name again?”

“I never said,” Hyungwon shook his head truthfully.

“That’s why I’m asking. I’m Lee Minhyuk,” the guy, named Minhyuk, showed him a bright smile and Hyungwon swore he’s never seen a smile so dazzling.

The life in the forest began to come to life in the early morning. The sky was a lighter grey and Hyungwon heard some birds chirp around him. “I’m Chae Hyungwon. Um… nice to meet you… I guess,” Hyungwon introduced himself uncertainly. He still wasn’t entirely sure about this Lee Minhyuk that first tackled him to the ground, telling him he breached the borders of his (‘their’) ground and then helped him stand up and clean his jacket off of mud and dirt. He didn’t understand Minhyuk’s action but his gut told him that he could be trusted even if this was their very first meeting.

Maybe Hyungwon wasn’t the best judge of people’s characters because he’s only dealt with Whites in his life before but he was will to take the risk to trust this Lee Minhyuk, hoping he wouldn’t screw himself over by putting his trust into the wrong person.

A happy laughed escaped Minhyuk’s lips in the early humid morning. “You guess? I just saved your life from one of my traps,” he chuckled some more, making Hyungwon flustered by the sound.

“Sorry? I guess…?”

Minhyuk went through another round of laughter at Hyungwon’s expressionless face and Hyungwon truly didn’t know what to do in that moment, so he just stood there, waiting for Minhyuk to stop making fun of him. “No, no,” he said once he was finally able to catch his breath. “Don’t be sorry, Hyungwon. But know that I’m not either. It’s not safe around here. But you most likely wouldn’t have known anything about hunting grounds and territories. You’re actually pretty lucky you stumbled upon me and my group. Most others aren’t by far as friendly as we are, some are even way too cruel… or so we think. They would have probably let you get caught and die in the trap.” He explained and motioned for Hyungwon to follow behind him as they marched on through the woods.

“Why?” Hyungwon swallowed a little scared and very confused.

“Many reasons,” Minhyuk shrugged as if there was no further reasoning needed. “Main one being that the primary source of our income can often be found in forests like these, cities too, but… many hide in places such as forests and plains. Plus there’s food here too.”

Minhyuk skillfully lead Hyungwon through the forest trails, pointing out where to step safely and which place to avoid to carefully get to wherever he was taking him to. He even helped Hyungwon on a muddy and slipper part by holding him by the elbow. “How long have you been out here?” Minhyuk felt curious.

“This is my first night. I left my house at midnight,” Hyungwon replied, only briefly touching upon his journey.

“That’s good then. You haven’t been in the cold for too long,” Minhyuk nodded, content with the answer he got to his question. Hyungwon didn’t completely understand why he would be worried about a White he’s met for the first time, especially if he was a Black. “I hope Kihyun makes something warm for breakfast. He should also take a look at those cuts,” Minhyuk pointed to Hyungwon’s cheekbone,” it would be a shame if that scarred such a handsome face.”

 _Was nothing they told us about the Blacks true? Are they just like us only living in a world that allows colors?_ Hyungwon kept asking himself questions that he was too scared to say out loud. Maybe one day he would discover the answers he was searching for, but so far he was pretty happy about his decision to leave the White life behind.

Hyungwon didn’t know how to respond to Minhyuk’s words, so he simply followed in Minhyuk’s footsteps.

“There!” Minhyuk exclaimed happily and Hyungwon’s eyes turned in the direction he was showing him with his finger. “Can you see the light in the window?”

And indeed Hyungwon could see a small warm yellow light in a big house made of logs that was slightly lifted off of the ground, standing on massive wooden columns. The house looked grand and inviting, but maybe the looks could be deceiving. “Yes.”

“That’s our main room. Someone’s up already. Let’s go!” Minhyuk cheerfully tugged Hyungwon behind he, heading for the stairs that led to the entrance door to the log house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hyungwon got over the Wall and met Minhyuk... what do you think about his gut feeling to trust him? Was it the right one? What awaits him in the house? 🤔
> 
> What do you think of today's chapter? Please share your thoughts and opinions with me in the comments. I love having the chance to interact with you 🤍🥰
> 
> Next time: Hyungwon meets the rest... but is it going to a good one?
> 
> I really hope you liked today's chapter and that you will come back to find out what happens next. Until then take care 🤍🥰✌🤗 ヾ(￣▽￣) Bye~Bye~


	3. The First Enemy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, hello there. Welcome back to World of Colors! In this chapter Hyungwon meets the group. I hope you enjoy! 🤗🤍
> 
> If you need any help with imagining the exterior of the log house which the group calls home, the one I based it off of can be found at the link below. Except the one these guys live in is bigger and has a ground and top floor. But as a small help to visualize where the guys live it's good: https://www.contemporist.com/rustic-modern-house-forest-designed-for-family-russia/

Hyungwon entered the big log house with large windows after Minhyuk and the warmth hit Hyungwon’s face right away, however just before walking in through the front door Minhyuk turned to the White with an important warning: “Take off your shoes before you enter further than the entrance hall. I don’t know how you do it over the Wall but it’s basic courtesy and manners here.”

“We do the same,” Hyungwon nodded in acknowledgement, leaving Minhyuk with no worry about having what he called ‘basic manners’.

Hyungwon could see the main room once he took two steps out of the entrance hall. The big room opened up before him and everything about it screamed ‘inviting’, even though Hyungwon couldn’t pinpoint what this feeling was just yet, he knew it was good. He felt more welcomed by the appearance of the room than he had ever felt in his own white room.

For a second his thoughts wandered back over the Wall, where shortly his parents would find out about their missing son. Would they search for him? Would they ever think he decided to go to the Black side of the Wall? Would they miss him? Would he miss them?

Feeling warmth coming from his bare feet, after he took off his wet socks, Hyungwon turned his eyes to the floor, looking for the source of the heat. “Why is the floor warm?” he asked curiously to Minhyuk.

“We heat the house through the floor. So you don’t have to be worried about having cold coming from the bottom of your feet,” Minhyuk kept smiling as he set Hyungwon’s dirty white backpack on the floor in the entrance hall.

Hyungwon kept looking at every single thing he could see. He was surrounded by colors he’s never seen, by items he didn’t know existed but what attracted him the most right now was the divine smell that hung in the air. He sniffed multiple times, but he couldn’t identify what it could be.

Not missing Hyungwon taking in everything that was around him Minhyuk approached him. “Smells good, eh? I think we will have a good breakfast today. You need it too, I’d say. Only in the light now, I can finally see how awfully skinny you are, Hyungwon.”

Hyungwon glanced down at his body, utterly confused by Minhyuk’s words. After all, he’s never heard anyone say anything like that about him. _Everyone looks like this back in White world._

“Kihyun?!” Minhyuk shouted into the house. “What’s for breakfast? Is there enough?”

A head peeked out of a dark hallway that led deeper into the log house. The person’s face carried now a deep frown and he seemed he was about to scold Minhyuk. “Do you have to shout so early in the morning? Hyunwoo hyung came really late last night,” the man told Minhyuk off in a hushed voice and Hyungwon immediately thought of him as an authority, as someone who had a say in how things went in the house. Then his expression changed from an angry glare to a confused scowl, when he noticed the clothes Minhyuk was wearing. “Wait. Where were you?” And only after that question he noticed Hyungwon standing slightly behind Minhyuk. “And who’s that?”

“Perimeter alarm went off an hour or so ago. I went to check it out and found him. This is Hyungwon. He’s a White,” Minhyuk explained nonchalantly as if something like this happened every day and at the same time he was pretty excited about his discovery

Kihyun’s jaw dropped in shock and he looked Hyungwon up and down carefully with squinted eyes. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. Have you ever seen anyone sneak around in clothes this bright?” Minhyuk crossed his arms over his chest and Kihyun seemed to be considering a response to that question.

“Frankly. No,” he shook his head. “That would be pretty dumb to say the least.”

“There’s your answer. But he’s been out all night. I bet you’re hungry, right?” Minhyuk turned to Hyungwon.

Hyungwon couldn’t do anything but nod shyly and hesitantly, shifting his weight from one foot to the other nervously.

Kihyun instantly noticed his behavior and made a couple of steps towards Hyungwon, softening his facial features and putting on a kind smile. “Hey, no need to be shy or nervous. Come eat, Hyungwon. The rice should be ready and you look like yesterday’s soup will do you better than their breakfast. There’s still a lot left from Jooheon’s celebration last night.”

Kihyun motioned from Hyungwon to follow him to the kitchen, so he did, making sure to step on the floor carefully as to not make any noise if possible.

Minhyuk grimaced suspicious as he sat down at the big table in the kitchen. “Why? What is our breakfast?”

“Whatever you make for yourself,” Kihyun replied with a half-evil smirk, looking amused beyond.

“Oh, come on!” Minhyuk protested loudly. “You’ll make anything for Hyungwoo hyung or Kyunnie! Why not me?!”

“You can have rice and eggs because that’s what I would make for anyone today anyway,” Kihyun told him over his shoulder as he watched the soup for Hyungwon got re-heated properly, occasionally stirring the pot on the stove.

“Can you make it spicy?” Minhyuk asked hopefully.

“I can give you chilli,” Kihyun offered, still not sparing him another glance.

“Okay,” Minhyuk shrugged and nodded in agreement.

“Okay.”

Hyungwon sat next to Minhyuk and watched them amazed by their domestic behavior. He’s never seen anything like that in the world of the Whites. Emotions, especially the fond ones weren’t a part of their daily education so Hyungwon never had the chance to witness something like this. He could sit there all day and stare at them fluidly move around the kitchen, reheating the soup for Hyungwon, frying the eggs for Minhyuk and the others, along with setting two bowls of rice on the table - one for Minhyuk and one for Hyungwon.

“Min, can you make some tea for Hyungwon, too, please? Put some honey in it, as well. He looks like he really needs the sugar,” Kihyun asked of Minhyuk, who got to work without any other words.

Then Kihyun set the steaming miyeokguk before Hyungwon and the delicious smell hit Hyungwon’s nose. He’s never seen a soup like that. It was a deep color and had something dark green and long floating in it. There was also some brown meat. All of the food Hyungwon has eaten so far was white so he was fascinated by the look of the soup in the dark grey bowl. The smell was also enticing and Hyungwon’s mouth began to water just from the smell alone. Hyungwon kept staring bewitched when Kihyun set a small dark dish next to the bowl with something of reddish color, cut into squares, neatly stacked. Kihyun called it ‘kimchi’ when he was putting it along the other side dishes out for Hyungwon to eat.

“What is it? Do you not like soup?” Kihyun seemed worried about Hyungwon not starting to eat.

“I-I do,” Hyungwon stammered, afraid he offended Kihyun by taking too long just eyeing the food that Minhyuk brought for himself to the table too. There was an egg with a yolk so brightly colored that he could none, but gaze. “It’s just… I have never seen an egg with a colored yolk. Or this… kimchi? It’s so bright red.”

Kihyun tittered before he could hold it back. “Sorry, Hyungwon. What do eggs look like over the Wall?”

“Have you never seen kimchi?” Minhyuk was shocked by Hyungwon’s statement.

“They’re white,” Hyungwon answered Kihyun’s question first and then turned to Minhyuk. “No. I don’t know what kimchi is.”

“Kimchi is a fermented cabbage dish with a tangy spicy taste. This one is pretty fresh so it shouldn’t be too sour or too fermented just yet,” Kihyun got to explaining the mystery that laid before Hyungwon. “But if you’re eating it for the first time I wouldn’t be too surprised if you didn’t like the taste of it at first.”

“What is the food like over the Wall?” Minhyuk leaned in appearing curious, just like Kihyun, who seemed to wish to know the answer to it.

“Nutritious. White,” he responded pragmatically, picking up the spoon as Kihyun watched him expectantly, while Minhyuk was simply stunned by the reply he received. Hyungwon put the first spoon into his mouth and it was the _best damn thing_ he’s ever had in his mouth.

“But how does it taste?” Minhyuk pressed on with the inquisition.

“This is amazing!” Hyungwon told Kihyun with wide eyes, holding his spoon in left hand and chopsticks in right.

“I’m happy you like it,” Kihyun beamed with the happiest and brightest eye smile. “Eat up. It would be the best if you managed to eat all that is in front of you.”

“All of this?” _How is all of this food supposed to fit into my stomach?_

“I meant - how does the nutritious white food taste?” Minhyuk kept asking questions.

“Uhm,” Hyungwon wanted to answer but he was not able to describe the food as anything other than bland and when he was about to speak Kihyun jumped in.

“Min, after he eats you can bombard him with your ever so annoying questions,” Kihyun chastised him. “And you should eat too, trap master.”

“Alright, alright,” Minhyuk backed off, digging into his own food. Hyungwon ate fast since he was just so hungry and the food was simply so good. “Slow down, tiger,” Minhyuk chuckled at him. “You’ll get a stomach ache if you eat like that, you know.”

Hyungwon only nodded with his mouth full of rice and tried to eat more slowly.

“Do you want to try coffee, too?” Minhyuk showed him his cup of black liquid.

“He should drink his tea first,” Kihyun noted.

So Hyungwon reached for the cup of colored liquid and after swallowing he asked: “Why is it this color? What is this color called? I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before.”

Kihyun laughed out loud but then noticed the confusion on Hyungwon’s face. “I’m sorry for laughing, Hyungwon. It’s just that we grew up like this and had no one ever ask questions like these. These colors and tastes and everything that you see has always been around. So I apologize ahead if any of us laughs at an inappropriate moment.”

“Thank you,” Hyungwon acknowledged, accepting the apology and drinks the tea. “It’s… it’s,” he searched for words, “sweet?”

“You like the taste right?” Kihyun confirmed with him.

Hyungwon nodded and continued to eat again.

“Most people like sweet stuff,” Minhyuk stated. “Try the kimchi. I want to see your face when you taste it for the first time.”

Hyungwon reached for the kimchi with his chopsticks but a loud suddenly sounded somewhere form behind him.

“Who is that?” the voice that asked was so wary and when Hyungwon turned around he saw a muscular man, whose gaze was so ready to fight. His face was so hostile that Hyungwon subconsciously scooted closer to Minhyuk.

“Calm down, Wonho. Hyungwon’s cool,” Minhyuk stood up from his chair, defending Hyungwon.

“We don’t know him. He could be after one of us, guys, and you let him right in,” the one Minhyuk called Wonho, was very angry and upset after seeing Hyungwon sit at his table. He was worried the younger ones didn’t understand how much risk they have put the whole group under.

“He’s a White, hyung,” Kihyun joined Minhyuk in defending their White guest. “I genuinely doubt he’s dangerous.”

“He could be lying, Kihyun,” Wonho protested, still not alleviating the awareness of the potential life threatening danger hanging in the air.

“My instinct says it’s fine and if I say he’s staying in the house then he’s staying, hyung. End of discussion,” Kihyun made a decision and there was no moving him. It was just like that every single time - once Kihyun decided something would be his way there were only two things that could convince him to change his outlook.

“Kihyun!” Wonho roared enraged, his face went from handsome to scary real fast and Hyungwon crouched further into the chair.

Suddenly multiple pairs of feet were hitting the floor in quick succession as if someone was running down the hallway on the wooden floor. And Hyungwon’s supposition proved correct when Minhyuk sighed heavily a simple: “Oh man,” and three more men appeared behind Wonho.

One of them, taller that Wonho but also muscular even though not as much, was bare-chested and breathed heavily. “What is it?” his eyes searched around the room, looking for the source of danger. The two behind him, younger looking ones, seemed alarmed as well.

Kihyun shook his head and huffed lightly as he turned back to continue the preparations for breakfast. “Just Wonho hyung freaking out. Nothing too serious.”

“But, hyung, who’s that?” one of the younger ones asked Kihyun, eyeing Hyungwon cautiously, yet curiously, like a little cat seeing something new for the first time.

Hyungwon began to shake from fear and pressure he felt in his chest, received by Wonho’s gaze. If he could become one with the floor, he would not hesitate to do so. He’s never seen men as big as Wonho and the other one Kihyun called ‘hyung’. Thank heavens, Minhyuk was at least partially shielding him from their view.

“That’s Hyungwon,” Minhyuk introduced him as an answer to the younger one’s question. “He’s cool, Kyunnie, don’t worry. And he hasn’t eaten since a very long time ago and spent the night in the cold wet woods in his white clothes that were not built to be in that kind of a weather for the whole night. So… it would be nice if you let him eat something warm. Look how skinny he is.”

“White clothes?” the other of the younger men turned his eyes to Hyungwon. When he spoke, soft dimples appeared in his cheeks, making him almost adorable… of course if Hyungwon wasn’t scared for his life right now.

“They’re more muddy than anything now, but they were white once I would dare say,” Minhyuk confirmed his previous statement by giving the dimpled man more details.

“Let’s eat,” Kihyun called out as he dropped multiple bowls of rice on the table along with many fried eggs and all of the side dishes that Hyungwon was eating before but on bigger places so they can share more easily. Then he turned to Hyungwon again and smiled kindly when he sat down. “Finish the soup. You should get washed after. You have mud even behind your ears.”

The four men at the hallway just kept staring and Hyungwon, who gazed back, still frozen from fear, until Kihyun sighed theatrically.

Kihyun’s eyes were directed to the bare-chested hyung. “My gut says we can trust him, hyung.”

The man said nothing, just warily eyed Hyungwon some more.

“Has my gut ever failed us, hyung?” Kihyun pressed on.

“No, never,” he agreed but didn’t move even a bit.

“Then sit down to eat or I’ll get angry when your food gets cold,” Kihyun dropped the honorifics and his voice was lace with thread.

The hyung padded over calmly and sat onto the chair next to Kihyun at the round table, grabbing a bowl for himself along with some eggs and digging in.

“Hi, I’m Changkyun,” the cat-like one settled on the chair next to Hyungwon smiling friendly, giving off a nice vibe that almost made Hyungwon loosen up.

“Uhm, I-“ Hyungwon didn’t manage to finish before he was cut off by Wonho.

“Changkyun! Sit away,” he barked out, towering over the other.

“Why?” Changkyun raised his brows, wanting to protest against the muscular man.

“Just do it,” there was no more explanation in the harsh voice that Wonho used at Changkyun, who just slumped his shoulders, but did as he was told, while Wonho took his seat and reached for a bowl of rice of his own, keeping his eyes trained at Hyungwon.

“Hyungwon,” Kihyun got his attention by calling out his name, “the one sitting next to Minhyuk is Jooheon and as you heard, that is Changkyun. This hyung next to me is Hyunwoo, but people outside our group call him Shownu out of respect. He’s the oldest. Wonho on your side is the second oldest, then Minhyuk, me, Jooheon and Changkyun is the youngest.”

Hyungwon nodded to show he understood and was very thankful for the introduction as now every face that he saw had a name. “Is age important?” he noticed that Kihyun also named the oldest to the youngest.

“Not to us that much,” Minhyuk shrugged softly, “but outside - yes. You always pay respect to those older than you. We call older ones ‘hyung’, if they’re friends or as close as we are. Did you have it too?”

Hyungwon shook his head in denial but absorbed all of the information like a sponge.

“How old are you?” Changkyun shot him an inquisitive glance.

“On the 15th day of the 1st month I will be 21,” Hyungwon replied politely.

“When should that be?” Hyunwoo asked him while chewing his food.

“In about three months. If your months are 30 or 31 days long,” Hyungwon told him openly, wondering how many things were different in the Black world - just how much the Great War has changed.

“They are,” Hyunwoo confirmed. “Jooheon just turned 20 yesterday. That’s why there’s miyeokguk.”

“So I get to call you ‘hyung’ too,” Changkyun chanted brightly with his cheeks puffed out with food.

“Don’t be so haste. He’s not staying,” Wonho joined the conversation once again.

“That is not up to you to decide, Wonho,” Kihyun really seemed like he’s had just about enough with Wonho’s behavior. “If you need something proved, then let’s vote.”

“He should stay, Wonho,” Hyunwoo put a hand on Kihyun’s shoulder in order to help to ground him back to calm state. “There’s no point in fighting either. Look…if we get to voting, you will lose because Kihyun, Minhyuk and Changkyun will vote for him to stay. I know you can see that too. I’m more inclined in letting the guy stay because I trust Kihyun’s instinct. It saved our balls more times that we would admit is healthy.”

“ _Fine_ ,” Wonho spat full of spite.

When everyone was done with their meals, Changkyun and Jooheon began to clean the dishes while Kihyun showed Hyungwon to the bathroom handing him a large bulky _yellow_ towel.

“I’ll set some clothes for you at the door. You’re a little taller than Min, but something from his closet should fit you,” Kihyun told him.

“Thank you,” Hyungwon showed his gratitude for the 10th time that morning.

“Stop already,” Kihyun shushed him. “You say ‘thank you’ way too much.”

“But it’s basic courtesy and manners,” Hyungwon protested with confusion settling on his face again.

“Hyungwon,” Kihyun sighed patiently, “that’s very nice of you but if you want to stay intact in this world you’ll have to learn the ways of this place. Not sure if you’re going to stay in our group because, frankly, our job isn’t the safest or the most virtuous there is but even if you decided to get out of here your ‘basic manners’ won’t get you far. I’m still surprised you trusted Minhyuk and me so fast in the first place.”

“Something told me I could trust Minhyuk,” Hyungwon responded truthfully, taking a mental note of Kihyun’s warning about the world of the Blacks.

“Well, that _something_ made a good call, “Kihyun smiled warmly again.

“I’m not too sure about it,” Hyungwon glanced towards the main room cautiously.

“You mean Wonho hyung?” Kihyun caught up quickly and then shook his head softly. “Nah, he’ll come around. Everyone here trusts my 6th sense. That’s why you’re still here anyway. Hyunwoo hyung would never let you stay if I wasn’t on board. And neither would Joo or Kyunnie. I have an eye and nose for people. So don’t you worry a bit about Wonho. And if he’s ever mean to you, come to me. He’s scared of me when I’m angry,” Kihyun winked at him conspicuously just before he closed the bathroom door and left Hyungwon alone in the grey room with a shower, basins and a big mirror.

 _How could someone so big be afraid of Kihyun?_ Hyungwon thought to himself.

Hyungwon stripped his clothes and entered the shower. There were multiple bottles with variously colored liquids and none of them was clear or white like it was in his bathroom back in Second White City, which he used to call home for more than 20 years of his life.

It still hasn’t quite settled that Hyungwon was no longer among the White but all of the colors and non-normalized items that smelled all differently kept proving him that he wasn’t dreaming, because his mind could never come up with these things.

Not knowing what he could use and what not (specifically wanting to avoid things that could be Wonho’s… just in case) he picked a shampoo and shower gel that had the faintest smell and perfume, hoping no one would notice.

After taking a warm shower, Hyungwon dried himself off and cracked open the door, finding clothes, just as promised. Hyungwon caught himself staring at the clothes. The hooded sweater was a bright orange color and it was made out of a very soft and pliable material that Hyungwon had never seen before. The pants he was given were of the same fabric but black fell right to his ankles, but he had to tighten them up because they fell off his hips when he made one step… _Am I really too slim for this side of the Wall?_

Hyungwon wasn’t sure what to do with his original dirty clothes, but he decided to fold them neatly and take them with him just like the towel.

The moment Hyungwon stepped into the hallway, his 6th sense (as Kihyun called it) told him to remain quiet and not move because the situation got a little too eerie. So, just before he closed the door, after turning the light off, he froze in place, breathing shallowly as to stay hidden. He didn’t know what he was waiting for, but he just wanted to make sure everything was alright.

And indeed, his 6th sense brought him fruits again. He heard hushed voices talking near him.

“I don’t think it’s a smart idea, hyung,” Wonho’s voice sounded gravely concerned and Hyungwon knew they were talking about him… because what else they would be even talking about, right?

“Listen… I know this wasn’t a polite thing to do, but Minhyuk and I went through his stuff,” the oldest hyung of the house replied with patience in his attitude and Hyungwon had to admit that that was most likely an innate trait of Hyunwoo’s. Even though…. yes… the fact that they went through his stuff without asking wasn’t very nice, but Hyungwon guessed he could understand their reasons to do so. “There wasn’t anything other than his White ID card, white clothes and a book full of scribbled pages along paper with drawn maps and notes.”

“Hyung, it could be a set-up,” Wonho still wasn’t convinced.

“White clothes are forbidden, Wonho,” Hyunwoo pressed on.

“He could have them made,” there was still resolve to protest left in Wonho.

“There’s no way he could get a hold of _bleached_ white fabric. There’s a reason they’re forbidden by law. Wearing white clothes, owning white things has some of the biggest consequences. And you know it, too,” Hyunwoo’s patience seemed to begin to run low.

“There’s no way we can check for sure,” Wonho wasn’t about to give up just yet.

“Then we’ll have to find her,” Hyunwoo offered another solution.

“No one has seen her in a while, hyung,” Wonho’s voice got a little lower and not as angry. “How are we going to find her, huh? She moves like a shadow from one place to another lately.”

“Jinyoung mentioned they met her by chance in the Port City. We can find a job to do nearby and take him with us,” Hyunwoo also calmed down and his rational side came out once again.

“Port City? He might get us all arrested before we even get there,” Wonho argued.

“Then, he’ll have to stay with us until he learns a little bit about the ways of the Blacks and then we can head off to find her,” Hyunwoo closed the debate with a period. Wonho was not going to fight him anymore, because the conversation was over. There were no more arguments he could used to show how much of a danger Hyungwon just about could be.

The two men walked away, taking the eerie aura with them and Hyungwon finally let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Who could they be planning to take him to? Who was this woman they talked about?

Hyungwon wasn’t scared for his fate near these men but he didn’t know them and as Hyunwoo and Kihyun pointed out, he didn’t know the ways of the Blacks, so from now on, he would have to be on higher alert, looking for every little thing that could cause his doom… especially around Wonho.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Kihyun seems to have a say in anything that goes in the log house, doesn't he? 😄 Changkyun and Minhyuk look like they are very fond of Hyungwon, but Wonho... he's Hyungwon's first enemy. Wonho literally hated him on sight? What could the reason be? 🤔 Did you enjoy the meeting of the group? Are you looking forward to the next chapter?
> 
> Please let me know about your thoughts and opinions in the comments. I love having the chance to interact with you guys and a new comment always make my day! 🤗🤍🥰
> 
> Next time: Hyungwon finds out about the occupation of the group and Minhyuk and Jooheon take him out for a walk before the dinner time discussion. 🤫🤫
> 
> I really hope you liked the chapter today and please leave a comment and/or a kudo if you like the story! I wish you a great rest of the day and see you next time. Until then take care and stay safe! 🤍🥰 ヾ(￣▽￣) Bye~Bye~


	4. Day One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, hello... 🤗 welcome to fourth chapter of this story, in which Hyungwon learns something new about the group. ✌ I hope you like it! 🤍

Hyungwon came out from the hallway after his shower and found Kihyun sitting in the main room reading a thick book while biting the back of a pen. Then he scribbled something down and went back to reading. The book almost looked like a text book, so Hyungwon quietly approached him, gazing onto the pages of the book.

The headline of the chapter read: _Pneumothorax_.

“Do you need to fix a punctured lung?” Hyungwon asked curiously.

Kihyun’s head whipped up to look at Hyungwon with interest in his eyes. “Haven’t had the chance… _yet_ … but what isn’t can be, right? I mean I studied for it, but it never hurts to brush up on some knowledge.”

Hyungwon nodded, acknowledging Kihyun’s claim about possible future happenings. “The first thing you usually have to do is to remove the air under pressure. It’s best to use a needle with a syringe and push it into the chest cavity.”

Kihyun hummed and squinted his eyes that hinted him being slightly amused. “You know, a punctured lung is a force related injury. It doesn’t just happen like a twisted ankle. How do you know this stuff?”

“I read a lot of books when I was younger,” Hyungwon stated as if it was completely normal and standardized as practice. “Everyone does.”

“Human biology and medicine?” Kihyun questioned when Hyungwon sat onto the couch opposite him.

“I was more into chemistry and history. I did pretty well in school, too,” Hyungwon admitted. But he has read a lot of books when he was a child… he was a curious child that has always been hungry for knowledge and information. Whites would say he was gifted and could eventually work in research centers if he kept his grades up and his curiosity peeked. Getting a position in a research facility was highly valued and Hyungwon would have had a good life… but then again… all Whites had a good life.

“I only know the basics from chemistry that I need in the everyday life with these guys. Treating wounds has always been my target… as any healer’s would be, if I’m not mistaken,” Kihyun glanced back to the book and his eyes flew by the letters searching for where he left off.

“Healer?” Hyungwon’s brows knitted in confusion.

“Oh, sorry,” Kihyun chuckled a little. “I forgot you don’t know what we do.”

“And what do you do?” Hyungwon’s face changed to worried in a heartbeat, when he saw the smirk remaining on Kihyun’s face after the sound of the chuckle faded away. It was slightly malicious and Hyungwon didn’t know what to think of it. He’s never seen one like that and he got a little scared, if he was to be 100% honest. He didn’t think that Kihyun would be able to make an expression like that.

“We’re bounty hunters,” Minhyuk’s nonchalant voice came from the large windows to the right of Hyungwon.

Hyungwon felt all the blood leave his face that very moment and his breath hitched. “Bounty hunters… so… you guys… kill things for money?”

“Things?” Kihyun’s smirk widened and his tone was more than amused at Hyungwon’s assumption.

“Mm-mm, people,” Minhyuk corrected him almost cheerfully.

Hyungwon’s eyes went wide from shock of how easily these two admitted to practicing such a job. How could they just murder someone in cold blood for money?

Seeing his shock, Kihyun set the book aside and leaned his elbows on his knees staring into Hyungwon’s eyes. “Don’t be so surprised, Hyungwon, we are Black after all.”

“Plus,” Hyunwoo joined into the conversation as he emerged from the hallway, “there are very few other jobs that pay as well as bounty hunting. We are one of the best groups in this country.”

“So it’s legal to kill people here?” Hyungwon was still utterly shocked by the discoveries he was making about the culture that ruled over the Wall.

“No. It’s legal to kill people, who have bounty on their heads,” Hyunwoo’s addition made a big difference in Hyungwon’s view on the matter.

“And who puts bounty on one’s head?” Hyungwon swiftly caught up with the, surprising Hyunwoo along the way with his quick thinking.

“There are two kinds of bounty,” Kihyun got to explaining with a patient to his voice, “private and government. Both of these have to be stated on the listing. It is not common for private bounties to be of larger sum than the government one.”

“So anyone could put a bounty on someone’s head? Even if it was just out of spite?” Hyungwon grew a little confused again. _It would be way too easy to get rid off someone then, wouldn’t it?_

“No,” Kihyun shook his head. “There are strict laws binding private bounties and all of them are investigated before they’re placed on the listings site. If your reason for wanting a private bounty is irrelevant you get a hefty fine. The laws are very precise about private bounties, but they’re still fairly common, however unlike government bounties, the person has a 90 days period during, which they can pay themselves out by paying the bounty to the government, who then in turn takes it down.”

“What kind of people end up with government bounties?” Hyungwon’s curiosity well was nowhere near being filled by the information these guys were giving him.

“Criminals,” Minhyuk said as if it was that simple. “You see, we don’t have prisons anymore because there are bounty hunters like us. The crime rate went down since the before the War, especially if you take a look at serious felonies, in particular ones of the violent kind.”

“Soon you guys will be out of jobs then, right?”

Laughter sounded from behind Hyungwon. He never realized more people walked into the room. There were all of the members of the bounty hunting group present and the one that laughed was Wonho. “The crime rate went down, stupid. Not disappeared.”

“What is the crime rate over the Wall?” Changkyun spoke up from where he stood next to Wonho, seeming interested in the matter.

“Zero,” Hyungwon replied as if everyone should know that. To him it was a given thing that no one ever did anything against someone else, that no one ever lied. “We don’t have crimes.”

“If there’s no criminality over the Wall how do you know what to call the crimes and understand them?” Minhyuk squinted his eyes at Hyungwon.

“They teach it at school,” Hyungwon’s answer yet again seemed like one that should be known to all. “It’s a part of History class.”

Wonho scoffed loudly in sarcastic amusement. “Let me guess… they teach you about Blacks, right?”

Hyungwon nodded genuinely as a response.

“And they teach you that we are savages, murderers, rapists, thieves, right?” Wonho kept that sarcastic grin on his face, hindering his handsome features.

With eyes wide as plates, Hyungwon hummed in agreement with the question he was just asked.

Wonho laughed again but there was more annoyance lacing it rather than happiness or amusement. Hyungwon didn’t understand why Wonho’s attitude took this turn and suddenly he felt a little more threatened than before. “Well, you haven’t really proven me otherwise by answering my questions right now,” Hyungwon peeped out uncertain of whether or not it was the right decision to make.

“No. We just fed you and clothed you, instead of raping you and killing you on the spot. Not counting the part when Minhyuk saved your life after you trespassed onto our grounds,” Wonho’s smirk was gone and a heavy expression settled on his face as he got closer to Hyungwon, leaving only about half a meter between their faces, when he leaned on the backrest of the couch.

“How was I supposed to know I was trespassing?” Hyungwon almost had enough of Wonho’s approach towards him, but he still kept his cool.

“Well then, maybe you should have stayed on your side of the Wall if you were so worried about the savages that live here,” Wonho crossed his arms over his chest, smirking cockily at Hyungwon.

And at that point Hyungwon has had enough. He was sure he had put his life at stake had he been caught trying to get over the Wall. He risked everything for the taste of freedom and he was not going to let someone who’s never been White to tell him what he should have or shouldn’t have done. Hyungwon stood up quickly, in his height taller than Wonho, but much, much slimmer and looked him dead in the eye.

“I wasn’t worried about savages,” his voice gained power and Hyungwon was more than determined to prove the man wrong. He didn’t know why, but he wanted to so much. “I wanted to escape the everyday sameness. I wanted to get away from the ever present white that never changed no matter what day you woke up to. But what would you know if you have never seen it the endless clean white? If you have never lived the same day for every single day for 20 years of your life? So don’t judge me for trying to run away from it.”

Silence enveloped the room as everyone stared at Hyungwon in awe of his raised voice and partially angered performance. “Wow, hyung, you got some emotion other than gratefulness from him,” Kihyun chuckled happily.

Hyungwon glanced around himself in confusion. Most of the guys’ faces carried the same smile that Hyungwon didn’t understand.

“You’re going to need that emotion if you want to stay,” Hyunwoo told him and then made his way to the door through which Hyungwon entered the house. Only now Hyungwon noticed the man was fully dressed, minus a jacket and shoes.

“I still don’t think he should stay,” Wonho said harshly when he followed Hyunwoo to the door.

“Get everything on the list, hyung,” Kihyun called out after them and then went back to his book.

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Hyunwoo’s voice came after a small grunt from behind the wall.

Kihyun raised his eyes one more time, glancing to Changkyun. He clicked his tongue and nodded his head towards the door. Changkyun understood the signal - ‘ _go with them_ ’ and since he was dressed in outside clothes, he also made his way to the door after shouting. “Hyungs, wait for me!”

When the three men left, Hyungwon took one more look at the studying Kihyun. He wondered if he should ask the question about his bag, because it clearly wasn’t at the door where he left it, plus there was that conversation between Hyunwoo and Wonho that he overheard. “Kihyun,” he began still uncertain.

“Mhm?” the man in question never tore his gaze away from the chapter about pneumothorax.

“Do you know where my bag is?”

Kihyun raised his head and his expression softened. “Hyunwoo hyung and Minhyuk went through your stuff,” he said as a matter of fact, “then we put the bag and the rest of the white items away. It is forbidden by law to own bleached white things. Off-white is okay, but the bleached white, like your belongings, are extremely forbidden and someone with our reputation cannot afford to be seen owning something like that. It would be best if we burned it, to be honest.”

“I get that,” Hyungwon nodded. He’s heard the same from the conversation he eavesdropped on by accident. “But there was a book with my notes in there.”

“The book is over there on the dining table along with your notes and your White ID,” Kihyun pointed to the table where they all have eaten their breakfast. “However I suggest you get rid of the ID as well. It’s not like you’re going to need it here.”

“I know, but maybe-“

“Maybe one day you’ll go back over the Wall?” Kihyun chuckled sarcastically. “I don’t think so, Hyungwon. We’re not holding you prisoner here, but once they notice you’re gone I don’t suppose it will be possible for you to just waltz back in. Sorry, but that’s my honest opinion on the matter.”

“Well, it’s not wrong so…” Hyungwon sighed, thinking about what Kihyun just said. “I think, it should be destroyed with the rest of the clothes.” Stretching out his hand, he picked up the pile of dirty clothes that he took off before taking the shower.

“Okay. Leave those there, but hang the towel up in the bathroom. There should be one hook empty,” Kihyun replied, going back to his studying again.

“Alright,” Hyungwon stood up and made his way towards the bathroom.

Hyungwon has been sitting at the dining table with a newly acquired book from Kihyun, who gave it to him with the words ‘I think you should read this’. So now Hyungwon had been reading a history book, which depicted the Black history after the War. From the book, Hyungwon also found out that the term ‘Black’ was not used in any official communication and in everyday life people didn’t use it either.

It was considered an archaism, a relic of the past that originated in the war to differentiate between the two sides. The ones who dressed in white uniforms called themselves ‘Whites’ and the ones, who (according to this book) fought for the freedom of people and dressed in darker colors (not necessarily only in black) began to be called ‘Blacks’ by the White armies.

Today, on their side of the Wall, they didn’t call themselves ‘Black’ at almost any time. And if so, it was used as a reference to something a White would say or do.

Hyungwon caught himself nodding a lot as he was reading about the history of the Blacks, who haven’t named themselves anything because they were just _people_ … nothing more and nothing less. Their history made a lot of sense, but so did the history of the Whites, so why were they so different? Why did the Whites want the people to think that the other side of the Wall was solely occupied by savages and murderers?

That was that missing puzzle piece that Hyungwon couldn’t seem to find.

“Hyungwon!” Minhyuk’s voice called at him and then the man appeared next to him. “It stopped raining. Wanna come check out the forest that surrounds our house?”

“Okay,” Hyungwon agreed, feeling his body stretch after a long period of sitting and reading would be fairly relaxing.

“Awesome, Jooheon’s joining too,” Minhyuk smiles at him and made his way to the door, motioning for Hyungwon to follow him.

“It’s good you decided to come,” Jooheon showed his dimples as he handed a coat of dark green color to Hyungwon.

“Thanks. I’m pretty excited to see the forest in light of day,” Hyungwon gratefully took the coat from Jooheon.

“Wear these,” Minhyuk pointed to a pair of hiking boots, “they have a much better grip than yours… and they’re not white. Your ankle shouldn’t twist even if you make a bad step on the mud.”

Hyungwon only nodding in acknowledgment and stopped himself before saying another ‘thank you’ as he remembered how annoyed Kihyun got at him earlier.

Just before the trio walked out, Jooheon opened of the doors in the entrance hallway and disappeared in the room for about 30 seconds, only to come back out carrying a shiny, heavy seeming battleaxe. Hyungwon’s eyes went wide from shock as he stared at the very sharp weapon that Jooheon was holding in his hand so casually.

Minhyuk must have noticed his face being fully and completely surprised, because when he spoke next his voice had a funny lilt to it. “Did you think we’re only going for a walk?”

“Uhm…” Hyungwon couldn’t utter a single word because he did, he really did.

Jooheon glanced at Hyungwon, who was eyeing the modernized version of a typical battleaxe made custom for Jooheon of magnesium, which made it lightweight but sharp, looking like one of those old battleaxes from history books. Then his gaze averted back to Hyungwon and a smirk settled on his face. “A deer caught in one of hyung’s traps. If it’s too hurt we’re going to have it for quite the amount of dinners throughout the winter but if it’s able to walk away we’re going to let it go.”

“That’s why he needs the axe,” Minhyuk shrugged, “among other things.”

“Among other things?” Hyungwon gasped out. Jooheon and Minhyuk walked out of the house before Hyungwon could hear their answer, so he rushed behind them, almost falling down the couple of stairs that led to the door. “Among what other things?”

“Well, you already know we’re bounty hunters… and each of us has a specialization,” Jooheon told him nonchalantly as Hyungwon followed the duo through the damp forest away from the house.

“I specialize in traps and explosives. You might have noticed the traps,” Minhyuk slung his arm over Hyungwon’s shoulders in a friendly way. The gesture felt as if they’ve known each other for years, rather than hours. “Or not… they’re pretty well hidden, so if you saw them right away I would have to go practice my covering skills. Jooheon is a melee fighter with his specialized weapon being an axe and he’s _killing_ it.”

Minhyuk spoke proudly of Jooheon, who blushed at the words. “I’m not that good,” he replied shyly.

“Oh shush,” Minhyuk pouted his lips to show his disagreement with Jooheon’s inability to accept the compliment. “Can you guess Kihyun’s specialty?”

Hyungwon had a smart brain with a good memory and if it served him right… “He mentioned something about being a healer?”

“Correct!” Minhyuk shouted excitedly and beamed with a bright smile at Hyungwon. “He’s our healer, but if he knows how to fight if he needs to. He has the best skill set in long daggers out of all of us. Hyunwoo hyung is a mid range or melee fighter and he uses these beautiful spears. Just like Jooheon he got a couple custom made ones _and_ they are expensive mind you… He does so well with them that the name Shownu became a legend among bounty hunters and common folk too.”

“Shownu?” Hyungwon’s eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

“Oh yes,” Jooheon joined in to the explaining as the trio hiked through the woods. “Hyunwoo hyung doesn’t go by his name outside our group. When he first started this job he didn’t want people to blackmail him into letting them go so in order to protect his family back then, so he got himself a nickname. Now people that aren’t his family or our group, which is technically family, know him only as ‘Shownu’.”

Hyungwon understood the point of what Jooheon was saying. He thought that bounty hunting was a difficult and dangerous job, but it seemed even more life threatening now that the two spoke of it.

“On the other hand, Changkyun is our only long range… unless you don’t count Minhyuk hyung, of course,” Jooheon mentioned the youngest of the house.

“I don’t know if you can count beforehand set up traps and explosives as long range, Joo. But then again I can make a pretty dent as well,” Minhyuk laughed and Jooheon grinned at the last part as well. “Changkyunnie uses a modern hunting recurve bow and specialized arrows… also custom made.”

“And finally, Hoseok hyung is the master of hand to hand combat. His punch has the strength to send someone straight to the moon and I would definitely not want to be on the other side of his boxers,” Jooheon’s words held Wonho in his praises.

“Hoseok is Wonho?” Hyungwon asked filled with puzzled thoughts again.

“Oh shit,” Jooheon swore, “forget I said that, okay? Wonho hyung doesn’t like to be called by his birth name. It links to something in his past that he never talks about. So please, please, Hyungwon forget I ever said his name to you, alright?”

Hyungwon tensely nodded to Jooheon’s begging wondering what could be so traumatic for you to hate your name so much. However that wasn’t the first question that came to his mind, or the second. “Can I have a question?”

“I thought there would be,” Minhyuk patted his shoulder and clicked his tongue.

“Why do you need all these skills?” That was Hyungwon’s first questions and he thought the most important too. Why would they need to hone skills like fighters?

“Well, let’s say that many many times the people, who have government bounties in the ranges we go for, don’t like the fact that there was a bounty written on their head. They tend to have people, who guard them and then the whole situation becomes a little bit of a mess and we usually end up having a couple of casualties,” Minhyuk explained patiently to an intently listening Hyungwon, who was once again soaking the knowledge like a sponge and then he added: “Last time it was 20.”

“Twenty?” Hyungwon had to blink a couple of times to make sure he was still there in the forest with them.

“Twenty is a pretty basic number. I think the top one was 48 for us,” Jooheon answered with some much nonchalance it almost knocked Hyungwon off his feet.

“48 people? A casualty? How is that even possible?”

“That guy was a drug lord and he was paying his guards insane money. They have actually avoided two groups before us, but we finally got them and the money tasted so good,” Minhyuk sighed happily at the memory.

“Wait, wait… you said it isn’t legal to just kill people here, only those who have a bounty,” Hyungwon was looking from one man to another.

“Yes, but that doesn’t apply to those protecting someone with an X rated bounty. There’s a whole law about it and a shit ton of fine print too,” Minhyuk just waved it off. “Hyunwoo hyung has the laws about these things down, so we just follow him when it comes to this stuff.”

“Bounty hunting laws are a difficult and complex in our country, but they give food on our table, so who are we to complain?” Jooheon winked at Hyungwon as the three arrived at their destination. “Oh man, looks like we’ll have to drag it back to the house.”

Hyungwon took one look at the young deer that got caught in one of Minhyuk’s traps and he had to turn away. There was so much blood at the scene but the poor animal still wasn’t entirely dead.

Then he heard Jooheon’s voice as he spoke to the deer. “Little guy, don’t you know these traps aren’t here for you. They’re here to keep the bad guys out. I wish you had been a little more careful.”

A swishing sound sped through the air and then Hyungwon hear what he assumed to be Jooheon’s axe hitting the animal’s dying body. He flinched and shut his eyes tightly.

_Where have I ended up at?_

When Minhyuk, Jooheon, Hyungwon _and_ the deer (that Jooheon and Minhyuk carried) arrived back at the log house the trio that went out to get whatever was on Kihyun’s list was seated at the dining table eating their lunch while Kihyun was going around sorting through what they’ve brought in.

“Hey, hyungs, you look a little sweaty,” Changkyun teased them from the table with a happy mocking voice.

Minhyuk shot him a quick glare. “Shut up, Changkyun.”

“Heeeey, no need to be mean to the maknae,” Wonho called out, but his voice was laced with the same tone Changkyun’s was and he grinned the exact same way as well.

“Shut up, hyung,” Jooheon spat his way but there was no spite behind those words.

Hyunwoo snorted and tittered over his food but didn’t say anything, just continued to eat looking amused as hell.

“Hyung, you forgot to get the sterile dressings,” an incredibly annoyed Kihyun broke the funny atmosphere and suddenly the mood at the table became heavy and all three men’s smirks disappeared with the speed of light. On the other hand, Hyungwon noticed Minhyuk and Jooheon biting their lips to keep themselves from making a sound. “How can the three of you forget one of the most important and most used things out of the first aid kit?” Kihyun’s voice was so angry and the way he was talking was just outright scary and Hyungwon felt his gut sink as if he was the one getting scolded.

He saw the three men at the table drop their heads and slump their shoulders, trying to curl closer to the table, making themselves smaller. Hyungwon leaned in to Minhyuk and whispered: “Now I get why Kihyun said Wonho is afraid of him when he gets angry. I am too.”

“We all are,” Minhyuk said back almost inaudibly.

“Do you two have anything to say?” Kihyun turned to Minhyuk and Hyungwon, his rage still very much on fire.

Before Hyungwon could utter a word, Jooheon stepped in. “No. They just said like ‘how could they?’ when they know it’s the most important thing, right?”

“Yes,” then Kihyun directed his gaze back to the trio at the table and Minhyuk and Hyungwon let out a breath they were holding and finally moved - Kihyun’s words froze them up to absolute statues. “And especially you two, hyungs, who get the most cuts out of the whole group,” Kihyun tisked to show his displeasement.

“Exactly, hyungs, how could you?” Jooheon tried to sound a little annoyed as well, to manifest that he was on Kihuyn’s side but that quickly turned against him when Kihyun’s squinted enraged gaze landed on the man with beautiful dimples.

“Did you say something, Jooheon? _You?_ Wasn’t it you, who just four days ago cut his shin with one of his _own_ axes? _You_ have something to say about your hyungs?” Kihyun put his hands onto his hips and Hyungwon felt like wanting to escape the room and curl into a ball somewhere in the corner to repent for Jooheon’s sin of speaking those words. Anything to escape the scalding scolding glare of Kihyun.

“I-it-it was,” Jooheon stuttered as his stomach did a couple of nervous flips and a drop of cold sweat ran down his temple.

“So, right now, the two of you,” Kihyun pointed to Minhyuk and Jooheon, “will go back to town and get sterile dressings. _AND_ if you get _anything_ else, all six of you won’t get any food from me for the next 2 weeks.” That thread seemed to work like magic because Hyunwoo’s, Wonho’s and Changkyun’s head lifted up and stared at Kihyun with a frightened gaze and then their eyes landed on Minhyuk and Jooheon, showing a pleading puppy stare. “Now, get going!”

“Yes sir!” Minhyuk saluted and Jooheon just straight out bolted to the front door, happy to have a chance to escape the house that contained an angry Kihyun.

“Hyungwon,” Kihyun barked out in the same voice and Hyungwon jumped up slightly, startled for his life, “come eat.”

Hyungwon’s mouth was completely dry and without answering he hurried to the chair, where he ate his breakfast, which was still next to Wonho, but right now he was way more afraid of Kihyun’s (hopefully dissolving) rage that Wonho’s big muscles.

The evening came; sterile dressings that Minhyuk and Jooheon brought were safely put away into the first aid kit and other cabinets for storage. Although… they did get a little too many, and as Hyungwon found out later, they did so because they were scared to get too little. It didn’t have an expiry date so Hyungwon thought it wasn’t a bad purchase and neither did Kihyun.

After dinner the group stayed at the table and Hyunwoo brought a couple of papers with him from one of the rooms that were down the hallway of the log house. With a heavy sigh he handed one paper to everyone, including Hyungwon, who didn’t exactly understand why he would do that. He didn’t have any moment to focus on what was on the paper because of Hyunwoo’s rather heavy sigh.

“Alright, here’s our new target. As you can see there’s a combination bounty and this case has especially been assigned to us. I was contacted earlier in the afternoon by the head of the Bounty Division at the Ministry of Justice. Apparently, Mr. Nam here is one of the ghost ones. They’ve been trying to track him down for a while but he always just slips right through their fingers. That’s why they want specifically us on him, rather than other groups. They’ve offered extra side money, since they want us to do the tracking as well as the kill. What do you guys think?” Hyunwoo looked at each of the members at the table, even Hyungwon, although it was still unknown to him, why he was allowed to participate in this conversation in the first place.

“Is it _the_ Nam?” Changkyun asked while studying the paper. His deep voice sounded way more mature now that it has during the afternoon when he played games with Jooheon on the TV (which Hyungwon also didn’t understand how it was possible, until Kihyun explained that it was a gaming console).

“Yes,” Hyunwoo nodded with all seriousness.

“How would you plan for us to track him down? Can they at least tell us where to start?” Wonho questioned pragmatically.

“That’s the thing. They’re asking us to stand by for a while before they catch a whiff of him and when they do, we set out immediately. That being - we keep constantly packed and ready to go at a moment’s notice. However, we have to take into consideration that it could be tomorrow and it could be in 3 weeks,” Hyunwoo explained, his eyes examining the paper as he spoke, then he raised his gaze and once again scanned the people around the table.

“Or 3 months,” Kihyun pointed out cleverly, Hyungwon thought the same but he was too afraid to interrupt the discussion.

“Or 3 months,” Hyunwoo agreed with another sigh.

“That would be a very serious dent into our finance,” Wonho scratched his temple, doubt arising in his face.

“They’re offering to pay us minimum wage as we wait and if the way gets longer than three weeks, they would double that,” Hyunwoo explained what he’s been told over the phone earlier during his call.

“That’s not a whole lot,” Minhyuk noted shaking his head.

“I know, that’s why brought it up for discussion,” Hyunwoo reasoned with them. “It’s very risky. Plus he’s notorious, we might easily get hurt as well.”

“He might be notorious, but it’s _the Nam_ … guys, this is a massive opportunity and they’re offering a shit ton of money,” Jooheon spoke for the first time. “If we get him, there’s the high possibility of eternal glory.”

“Eternal glory is good for nothing if you’re too dead to enjoy is, Jooheon,” Kihyun reminded him. His tone pointed to the fact that this wasn’t the first time that Jooheon had these kinds of notions.

“I agree,” Wonho joined Kihyun.

“Let’s have it settle in our minds until morning, okay? We’ll discuss this further at breakfast, when we decide what we do. How about that?” Hyunwoo suggested giving everyone time to think about it and the group at the table nodded.

“I have a question,” Hyungwon peeped out almost inaudibly.

“What is it?” Hyunwoo asked him directly.

“Why am I sitting here while you discuss your work?”

Hyunwoo scoffed and smirked amused. “You couldn’t have thought you would stay here for free, right?” Hyungwon’s surprised gaze must have confirmed to Hyunwoo that he might have thought something along those lines. “And tonight you’re sleeping in Wonho’s room, since he’s the only one with an empty bed.”

Wonho’s open palm slammed onto the top of the hardwood table and for a moment the whole kitchen shook by the sheer force of the hit. “Not in a million years.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wonho is meaner and meaner and an angry Kihyun is something *no one* wants to have anything to do with. 😅🙊 What do you think about the distribution of skills among the members of the group? If Hyungwon stays what would be his role to fulfill? Any guesses? 🤔🙃 Do you think he will stay? And what about everything he's been taught at White school? 🤔 Will Hyungwon sleep with Wonho in the room, especially after that 'Not in a million years?'? 🙊🤭
> 
> Please share your thoughts and opinions with me in the comments... I love having the chance to chat and interact with you guys! 🤍🤗🥰✌
> 
> Next time: Hyungwon has a late night talk with Changkyun... and is caught staring... at what? 🤫🤫
> 
> I hope you enjoyed reading today's chapter and you'll come back for more! Until then I wish you a great rest of the day and please take care! 🤍🥰✌🤗ヾ(￣▽￣) Bye~Bye~


	5. Dark Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiya! 🤗 World of Colors is back and we find out some stuff about Hyungwon. I hope you like it today! ✌

“Take these and these,” Kihyun handed Hyungwon a duvet and a pillow, along with dark blue colored beddings and same-colored bed sheet, when he was standing beside him at a big closet in the hallway just before midnight.

Wonho stood in the door to his room with his arms crossed over his chest and a deep frown on his face. “I’m not sleeping with him in the same room.”

“You can sleep on the couch then,” Kihyun closed the conversation with a simple solution.

“What?! But this is my room,” Wonho protested, slightly shocked by Kihuyn’s statement, but still hasn’t moved an inch from how he was blocking the door even when Kihyun approached him tailed by Hyungwon.

“I gave you your options, hyung. You already got me angry once today… do you want me to have go at you again?” Kihyun raised a brow and although he was shorter than Wonho and a much smaller build, Wonho backed down with a heavy exaggerated sigh, keeping his gaze trained on Hyungwon suspiciously. “This will be your bed from now on. I’ll ask Minhyuk to bring you something more comfortable to sleep in.” Kihyun pointed to a bed, Hyungwon set the beddings onto his new bed and then he was gone, leaving Hyungwon in the room with Wonho.

Hyungwon turned to the stuff on his bed and began to put the bedding onto the pillow and duvet, following by the bed sheet. He felt Wonho’s eyes on him but he pretended to be oblivious to his gaze. The last thing he wanted was a conflict with Wonho. He was intimidated by him, but letting the man know wouldn’t end up very well either. Hyungwon was worried what might happen during the night when he fell asleep.

Then he heard rustling of clothes and peeked over his shoulder and what his eyes landed upon froze all of his movements. He saw Wonho turn his back to him as he was taking off his shirt and the way his muscles rippled when he was stretching the fabric over his head and off his body fascinated Hyungwon.

Wonho didn’t turn back but continued to organize something on his bed however Hyungwon couldn’t pay attention to what the things were because he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the broad back. He just couldn’t. And he should have because the next moment Wonho spun around and he looked directly at Hyungwon, who now had full view of the man’s chest, which didn’t help his frozen state at all - it only made things worse. His pectoral muscles as well as the abdominal and shoulders were shaped better than the illustrations in his biology books that didn’t have skin portrayed. Hyungwon didn’t think it was possible. He would die to touch and explore the movements of the muscles under the 7 layers of skin, but he sincerely doubted Wonho would ever let him do that.

“What are you staring at?” Wonho growled out and Hyungwon suddenly unfroze.

“Uhhh, nothing,” Hyungwon quickly shook his head and averted his gaze, thinking fast about how to cover up and he noticed a picture on the wall. “You guys seem to have been together for a while,” Hyungwon nodded with his head towards the photograph that was pinned above Wonho’s bed. It was a group of 3 men - Hyunwoo, Kihyun and Wonho. All of them were much younger and smiled brightly.

“That’s none of your business,” Wonho said and pulled a bigger shirt over his head, “and I know you were staring at me. If you don’t want to get hurt, _do not_ do it again.”

Hyungwon gulped down visibly and nodded frantically.

Hyungwon wasn’t able to fall asleep at all, even hours after he settled into the warm bed with dark sheets. It wasn’t that he wasn’t tired or like Wonho might have thought that Hyungwon would have some side intentions. No… it was the darkness that surrounded him that didn’t allow him to sleep.

As someone, who grew up in a room where everything was white and the light of the street lamps illuminated the bright color in the room, Hyungwon was used to sleep in a room that lacked darkness. Now he was lying in dark colored sheets, the walls were lined white light colored wood but because of the forest outside, no light came from the endless amount of trees that surrounded the house Hyungwon was currently residing. And even though he tried to keep as quiet as possible, toss and turn as little as possible, Hyungwon just couldn’t help himself, but get up from the bed as silently as he could.

Ever so slowly he opened the door, fearing that the movement would wake up the softly breathing broad-shouldered giant and after leaving them ajar made his way to the main room, where he knew a glass wall was that opened up to the forest. Hoping that it would calm him down to gaze at the trees Hyungwon sat on the floor as stared out, breathing in and out slowly.

Couple of minutes later he heard movements behind him and then a whisper came. “What are you doing here, hyung?” Changkyun approached him and sat on the floor next to him.

“I couldn’t sleep,” Hyungwon admitted in a soft voice. “It’s too dark.”

“Are you afraid?” the youngest asked him with deep interest.

“No,” Hyungwon responded with a gentle shake of his head, “but even the night used to be so much lighter with all the light and whiteness around me back home.”

Changkyun hummed and nodded in acknowledgement. “You know, I realize you haven’t been here for a while but it’s the first time you called the place over the Wall your ‘home’.”

Hyungwon thought about it for a second and then looked at Changkyun, who looked so mature in the dark light of the main room that was only softly illuminated by the electronics that resided there. “I guess…”

“Do you miss it or regret coming here now?”

“Neither.”

“What about your parents? Do you miss them?”

“Not really. I think I’m just not used to the darkness that this world is somehow made up of. It feels a little lonely to be the only one, who doesn’t belong,” Hyungwon talked in a hushed manner and sighed heavily.

Changkyun extended his arm and wrapped it around Hyungwon’s shoulders in a friendly gesture that startled Hyungwon slightly. “Hyung… if you ever feel lonely again or you get scared of the dark, come to me… I know how you feel. I get lonely pretty easily… and hyungs hate it, so they try to keep me busy, but once you’re alone at night when everyone else retires to their beds your brain just keeps on spinning and images and thoughts run in your head.”

“Yes, the thoughts were the reason I couldn’t fall asleep,” Hyungwon agreed, subconsciously wanting to get closer to Changkyun.

“That’s why I said, if you ever feel lonely come to me. Even if it’s the middle of a night, just come lie with me in the bed. Then you won’t be alone and if you want, we can talk about it too. What do you say, hyung?” Changkyun offered, smiling kindly.

Hyungwon showed him a thankful smile and nodded softly. “Thank you, Changkyun.”

Unbeknownst to the two at the window, their conversation had another spectator. Wonho wasn’t a deep sleeper and especially when he was on high alert because of the stranger in their house _and_ in his room. So of course he woke up when the sheets rustled and he was completely awake when the skinny man’s feet touched the floor. And certainly, he would follow him to find out what he was up to. What he didn’t expect was to see Changkyun come down from the second floor, where his room was and sit down next to Hyungwon and confine to him more than he had to anyone in the house in ages. It broke Wonho’s heart a little bit since he cared for the maknae very deeply.

The morning came a little too early. Hyungwon did end up going back to the room maybe an hour before sunrise. He and Changkyun talked for hours about things that Hyungwon was interested about the life on their side of the Wall. Hyungwon now could and would say he felt a little smarter but the other part of his brain told him to hold the reins back because he knew maybe ten grains of rice worth, while it was a whole bag of rice filled out there.

The last hour and something, Hyungwon’s body was so tired that he managed to fall asleep as soon as he dragged himself back to his bed.

“Hyung, hyung, wake up,” someone shook Hyungwon awake and the familiar face of the youngest member of the group appeared above him. “It’s breakfast time and Kihyun hyung sent me to wake you up.”

“And if I’m not hungry?” Hyungwon asked sleepily, closing his eyes again when hearing there’s nothing that important. It’s just breakfast and he hasn’t slept properly for two nights. Let him get a break.

“That won’t sit well with any of the hyungs,” Changkyun explained chuckling at how Hyungwon pulled the cover back up over his head. “Come on, Hyungwon!”

“Ugh, alright. I’m getting up,” Hyungwon struggled to sit up but once he did he felt a little more awake and he followed Changkyun to the kitchen, where the rest of the people residing in the log house were already seated at their spots around the table.

Hyungwon said down after greeting everyone a simple ‘good morning’ and Kihyun pushed a bowl of rice towards him. In the middle of the table, just like the day before were side dishes and soup.

“So, has everyone thought of the job?” Hyunwoo began quickly, before everyone even finished the first bowl of rice.

“The thing is that they’re really offering good money, but the prospect of having to always be ready to go kind of sets me off,” Kihyun replied looking torn. “If we got three or four better paying jobs we’d have the same money. I’m not sure it’s worth it, but if most are in, I’m not going to pull out of course and I’ll give it my best.”

Hyunwoo nodded, acknowledging Kihyun’s choice of ‘I would rather not’.

“I think we should take it,” Wonho said after he swallowed his bite. “Once they give us the first clue and we get going, I think we’ll be able to get him fairly fast, we might not be the best trackers but after all, we have a lot of friends. And then, when you look at the risk of four better paying jobs; that can get a little out of control when it comes to safety.”

“I agree with Wonho hyung,” Jooheon joined Wonho, “I think we should go after him.”

Minhyuk took a deep breath in and looked at Hyunwoo. “I’m on board with them.”

“Changkyun?” Hyunwoo turned his gaze to the youngest.

“I would be in, but I’m not having the best feeling about it,” he sucked his teeth and tisked softly. “Something just feels off, so I’m the same as Kihyun hyung.”

“Okay. I’m on the side of taking the job, but just like Kihyun said, we have to be extra, extra careful about everything. Nam has slipped away so many times that this might be just about our most difficult job, yet,” Hyunwoo stated his opinion and then the whole table directed their gazes at Hyungwon expectantly.

Hyungwon cleared his throat cautiously. “W-why are you looking at me?”

Hyunwoo scoffed and smiled amused at Hyungwon’s caution. “Your opinion on the job?”

“W-w-why does it matter? I-“

“You didn’t think you would stay here for free, right?” Hyunwoo chuckled and Hyungwon worriedly looked around the table, where everyone except Wonho carried the same facial expression as Hyunwoo.

“I-I…I’m not a fighter. I don’t know how to do anything,” Hyungwon mumbled and stuttered, staring at the hard wood table.

“You gotta learn fast then,” Hyunwoo said and took a sip from his coffee. “I’m guessing you as long range or mid range. You don’t really look like someone, who’d be up for melee styles. Plus, I think you might be a good tracker. You think pretty fast, Hyungwon.”

“I-I… I, uhm…” Hyunwong couldn’t find words to say.

“Job, Hyungwon. Are you in or are you out?” Hyunwoo pressed on for an answer from the White.

“Uhm… in?” Hyungwon decided quickly.

Hyunwoo clapped his hands together, seeming pleased by Hyungwon’s answer. “Alright then. So after breakfast everyone has until lunch to check all of their equipment and pack all of their bags, which will be set by the door, ready to leave at moment’s notice. Wonho will help Hyungwon pack, since you have the least equipment to go over. After lunch, Hyungwon will begin training.”

Once everyone left to their rooms, Hyungwon was unsure of what to do. He had nothing to pack and he was certain Wonho would offer zero help. So he decided to remain in the main room, picking up the book that led him here. He’s read that book over and over. There was nothing new he could find in there… how could he, right? But it gave him comfort that there was someone in the world, who just like him wanted to escape the White life. He felt a little less insane, when he picked up the book, as if he was a little more grounded to himself. It was a strange feeling and Hyungwon couldn’t explain it well.

“What are you doing here?” Hyunwoo’s voice came from behind him. “You’re supposed to be packing, Hyungwon.”

“I don’t have anything to pack. I don’t own anything beside this book,” Hyungwon stated, lifting the book to prove his point to the elder.

“That’s why I told Wonho to help you,” Hyunwoo moved around the room as he talked putting this and that onto a pile on the coffee table.

“Yes, I also don’t think that is going to happen,” Hyungwon murmured, assured of at least that one thing in life - Wonho _hated_ him. Why? Hyungwon didn’t know the answer to that and actually wondered if he’d ever find it out.

“Look,” Hyunwoo sighed heavily and crossed his big arms over his big chest that wasn’t as big as Wonho’s, Hyungwon noted in his mind, “We are one group and I was chosen the leader. I didn’t want to be, the guys said I should be, when we decided to form up. And unfortunately for Wonho, if he doesn’t help you, I will have to. And if I do so, Kihyun will get pissed off. _And_ the one thing Wonho doesn’t want nor need in his life is Kihyun’s anger directed at him… once again.”

Hyungwon nodded in acknowledgment and internally shuddered from even thinking of having Kihyun angry at him. But then a light bulb blinked on in his mind and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Hyung… can I have a question?”

“What is it?” Hyunwoo was back to going through a box that was set on the coffee table.

“How does you being the leader and Kihyun being angry at Wonho for you helping me for him have anything in common?” Hyungwon was beyond confused; he couldn’t wrap his mind around it connecting. He wanted to say he was good at figuring things out but this one truly baffled him.

Hyunwoo’s eyes raised up and a blank expression decorated his face. “Uhmm… uh, you know… you’re right. You’re too innocent to understand what they have in common.”

“Okay,” Hyungwon said carefully but he couldn’t deny in front of himself that he was curious to find out what Hyunwoo meant. He also didn’t miss the small smirk that spread on Hyunwoo’s lips as the leader went back to sorting the box.

“You’re still here?” Hyunwoo said without even glancing up. “Go tell Wonho what I told you.”

“Yes, I’m going,” Hyungwon slowly stood up from the couch and made his way to the room he shared with Wonho.

Hyungwon opened the door of the room, halting before walking in. He peeked in to see whether or not Wonho was paying attention to what was happening at the entrance of the room. Thankfully he wasn’t, but Hyungwon was too oblivious to know that Wonho was a very perceptive human, who only pretended not to notice Hyungwon padding into the room quietly.

Sitting down on his bed and boosting himself up to have his back to the wall Hyungwon decided to covertly watch Wonho’s movements in hope to see his muscles ripple under the fabric of his shirt. He tried to do it so that even if Wonho caught him doing it would seem as if he wasn’t really following him with his eyes.

Out of the blue a knife flew past Hyungwon and got stuck in the wood beside his head. Hyungwon gasped loudly, scared for his life. “That is my last warning. _Don’t watch me ever again_.”

“I-I-I wasn’t,” Hyungwon stuttered, words tripping over his tongue because of the sudden scare.

“Whatever,” Wonho said decided that his truth was the truth and that was it. No discussion allowed.

“Just…” Hyungwon mumbled quietly but Wonho stopped his movement.

“Just what?”

“Hyunwoo hyung said that you have to help me pack otherwise he will come do it as the leader and then Kihyun will get angry with you because Hyunwoo hyung had to help me and that he’s the leader…” Hyungwon repeated everything Hyunwoo told him, just as he was instructed to do. “I don’t see how those things together make a connection but…”

Wonho laughed sarcastically. “You don’t see how they make a connection? Are you dumb or just ignorant?”

“I am neither,” Hyungwon protested, not willing to let someone belittle him. If he didn’t know something than he should be educated properly to know when and where he’s making the mistake rather than be mocked for not knowing something.

“Whatever,” Wonho said again and Hyungwon wondered if the man had a new favorite word.

Hyungwon was so not sure of what to do and the only thing that came to his mind was to genuinely ask. “So are you going to help me or should I go find Hyunwoo hyung?”

Wonho clicked his tongue, not looking like he would want to help the younger whatsoever. Another moment past before Wonho turned his back to Hyungwon and spoke to him in a low angry voice. “You need clothes that you can sleep outside in and your weapons, a hammock, a water bottle, clothes for outside stakeout and no personal belongings, unless you want to lose them.”

“I don’t have any of those,” Hyungwon replied after giving it a moment of consideration.

“Well, that’s not my problem is it. Consider it your help from me. You’re not getting anything more.” And with that Wonho returned to packing his backpack, completely ignoring Hyungwon’s existence, so the White did something he remembered he was offered to do the night before - go see Changkyun if he needed anything.

By the time of lunch the only two people, who haven’t been fully packed were Hyungwon and Changkyun, who helped Hyungwon get all the items off of Wonho’s list and more. Even though they were late to set their bags by the door, Hyunwoo wasn’t angry at them because he knew that Changkyun took probably the longest to make sure all of his weapons were on top of their game. He also needed spare parts and then he also aided Hyungwon, so there was no reason to get upset.

Unless you were Kihyun and you found out that the person, who was supposed to be helping Hyungwon, didn’t do anything.

So when Changkyun and Hyungwon finally dropped their bags by the door, everyone as already finished with their meals, except for Wonho. As Kyun found out from Jooheon, who occasionally chuckled as he told the story, Kihyun refused to give Wonho food with words: ‘Since you have so little time on your hands that you cannot help one of the members pack, then I don’t have time to make you food.’ To which Wonho replied: ‘But you already made it.’ And Kihyun shook his head with a denying hum: ‘Only… it’s no longer yours.’ Therefore Wonho was forced to make himself food and from what Jooheon said, he was just going to eat instant ramen because that is just about the only thing that Wonho can make properly.

Hyungwon wasn’t entirely sure it was fair to do this, because in the end Wonho at least helped him establish what he needed and Hyungwon ended being resourceful enough to get it. But then again, Hyungwon didn’t understand a lot of things that were going on in the log house or the world over the Wall from the Whites, so he decided it would be better if he said nothing.

“So, Hyungwon,” Hyunwoo dragged all of the members out to the small yard that was beneath the terrace. This place was obviously used as an outdoor training area, with targets and equipment hidden from rain in a small shed on the edge of the clearing. “Are you a long range or a mid-range kind of a person?”

“Uhm… I don’t know,” Hyungwon replied. _I would rather be neither, if I’m being honest._ At this point he knew he wouldn’t be able to avoid the training so he only added the last part in his mind. “You said you need someone, who can track people. Do I have to fight?”

“Even Kihyun hyung fights, hyung,” Jooheon called out from one of the outside lounge chairs where the members have been sitting. “We all know how to protect ourselves.”

“Are you a fast runner?” Hyunwoo asked another question.

“Yes,” Hyungwon said with great confidence. “Even through woods and uneven terrain”

“Ok, we have one of your strong points, which leads us to light weight single hand weapons, because there’s nothing worse than being weighed down or obstructed by a weapon when you’re running after someone or something,” Hyunwoo came to ruling out heavy weapons such as spears, large axes or long range shooting weapons.

“We should have a scimitar or a katana lying around somewhere.” Minhyuk suggested. “I doubt they are sharpened but maybe they’re still somewhere in the storage room.”

“The scimitar is heavy, though,” Jooheon protested.

“Not as heavy as a traditional sword or a mace,” Kihyun added, “but thanks to the curved edge it might be easier to handle if he ever gets to physical combat. Plus a katana requires a larger amount of skill to master at least the basics.”

“It’s pointlessly heavy when it comes to the scimitar,” Hyunwoo crossed his arms over his chest in thought. “We need Hyungwon to run fast and to be able to chase after the target. When he gets into physical contact, we should be much closer by. Like with Kihyun.”

The members nodded, all in deep thought about what to do, but then Changkyun spoke. “Hyung, do we still have the pair of chokuto we once got as a gift from Soyou noona?”

Hyunwoo’s face brightened up and he made 3 short steps as he approached Changkyun. He ruffled his hair affectionately and smiled. “Changkyun has anyone ever told you that you’re a genius?”

Changkyun’s lips stretched in the widest pleased puppy smile he could do. “Yes, but it doesn’t hurt to hear it again.”

Kihyun and Wonho laughed adoringly, while Minhyuk and Jooheon disappeared through a door beneath the terrace, only to come out 3 minutes later with a roll wrapped in dark paper.

“Here they are,” Minhyuk announced and unwrapped the paper to reveal two long dark reddish and polished wood pieces.

Hyunwoo took one into his hand and showed it to Hyungwon. On one side there was a red line about 15cm from the edge. Hyunwoo grabbed the short part with one hand and the long one with the other. With a small pull he revealed a shiny blade inside. “These two will be ideal for you, Hyungwon. Small and lightweight, quite the stealthy weapons.”

Hyungwon stared at the reflection of his eyes in the blade and couldn’t believe where he had gotten himself to. On the other hand a wave of excitement ran through him as Hyunwoo put the sword back into its sheath and handed it to Hyungwon, who carefully accepted one of them politely with both hands. The eldest hyung was right. The chokuto was light and when Hyungwon wrapped his fingers around the hilt, it sat so well with his palm as if it was made for him. A zing of electricity went through him as he slowly pulled the sheath off.

“It’s pretty blunt now, but that will do for the moment. You need to learn to move with it, so the less risk you put yourself in the better. But keep in mind, these swords tend to be sharpened to the point when they cut through bodies as if they were thin air,” Hyunwoo explained to Hyungwon, who still stared at the blade in complete fascination.

Hyungwon nodded and swallowed hard. Jooheon then handed him the other one and with his help he unsheathed it. He was standing there looking at his hands and fingers that were wrapped around potentially lethal weapons even though he’s never hurt anyone or anything in his entire life. _How on Earth did I get here?_

“He looks pretty badass even though he’s scared shitless, right?” Minhyuk whispered ever so quietly to Kihyun, who smirked in agreement and playfully punched him to his bicep.

So,” Hyunwoo patted Hyungwon’s shoulder, “let’s begin?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Hyungwon got caught staring at Wonho... twice. Wonho's pretty scary, right? 😧 Changkyun is a little lonely but very fond of his new hyung, am I right? 😓 What are your thoughts on the talk between Hyungwon and Changkyun?🤔 What do you think of Hyungwon beginning his training to become a bounty hunter?
> 
> Please leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments I would love to have a chance to chat and interact with you 🤗🥰🤍
> 
> Next time: Hyungwon's training begins, the first lead on Nam appears and an old friend of the group makes first appearance. 🤫
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter and hopefully you'll come back to read what happens in the next one. Until then, take care and stay safe 🤍🥰🤗ヾ(￣▽￣) Bye~Bye~


	6. The Northern Man at Port City

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there! 🤗 We learn a couple new things about the group in this chapter so I hope you enjoy it! 🤍

Three weeks flew past without Hyungwon even properly noticing. These days weren’t easy by any means. He had to train hard daily, which consisted of timed runs both short and long distanced twice a day with Hyunwoo holding the stopwatch and the other members, excluding Wonho, waiting for him at checkpoints. Hyungwon gained both speed and endurance during his runs and he was accordingly proud of himself.

Kihyun was surprisingly the one, who took Hyungwon for the fight training, since the healer normally wielded two long daggers he was a good teacher to Hyungwon, who picked up the fighting with his two new chokuto swords shockingly fast. Hyungwon had a great memory and a certain talent for mimicking the movements he’s been shown once.

At first, it wasn’t an easy task to get Hyungwon to move the way he was supposed to but after the two initial lessons, he began to get the hang of it. Now he would spar with Kihyun, Hyunwoo and Jooheon every day, each of them representing a different kind of enemy he could encounter in a melee fight.

Kihyun was a nimble fighter, who always had his moves calculated and perfectly timed. Just like Hyungwon’s chokuto Kihyun’s daggers were light but sharp making his actions and attacks the most difficult to defend out of the trio. Thanks to his speed and agility Hyungwon learned the best and fastest with Kihyun. At the beginning there was no light at the end of the tunnel for Hyungwon but by the time he hit the end of the second week, he had beaten Kihyun for the very first time. That night the group celebrated… well, Wonho didn’t join.

Hyunwoo on the other hand was inaccessible in a fight. Using a spear, he was able to keep at a considerable distance from Hyungwon, so the younger had a more difficult time to get close, compared to his fights with the healer. However, Hyunwoo wasn’t as fast as Kihyun or as quick in his movements. So once Hyungwon was able to learn how to close the distance, it was easier to win a fight, but Hyungwon was still to win one against Hyunwoo. Somehow the leader always got out of the trouble and Hyungwon ended up being the loser. Hyungwon had to give it to the eldest hyung - he was a great fighter.

Jooheon was a fighter, who heavily relied on his strength. He was by no means slow, but compared to Kihyun or Hyunwoo, Jooheon was a little more unhurried with his style of combat. Hyungwon always had to remember well to steer clear of Jooheon’s axe, even if he was using the practice one. Hyungwon’s won a couple of training fights against the younger thanks to being more limber and lithe. However that didn’t make Jooheon any less dangerous.

Hyungwon’s body was littered with bruises and small cuts that Kihyun tended to on a daily basis. Cleaning the new ones and re-dressing the old ones. One thing could confidently be said about these 3 weeks - Hyungwon found out he had muscles he didn’t know about, because after the brutal trainings that the relentless Hyunwoo came with, even Hyungwon’s hair hurt.

Every night Hyungwon would drag himself to bed, trying his back to not even flash a single glance in Wonho’s direction in fear of getting the other angry at him again. Although there was a curious streak in Hyungwon that wanted to keep exploring the muscles that rippled beneath the beautiful skin. He wanted to ask Wonho about the scars he carried and he wished to see his face without a frown when it turned to him - just like when he talked to Changkyun.

Speaking of Changkyun, the two spent a lot of time together talking about various things, since Changkyun was a very inquisitive person as well, hungry for any kind of knowledge. He asked many questions about the life over the Wall and answered all of those that Hyungwon could think of. A deep friendship formed between the two and Hyungwon was ever so grateful to have met someone like the maknae.

Learning new things every day was a like a dream come true for Hyungwon. He discovered something he hadn’t known before daily, whether it was a color or a taste or a name of a feeling that he felt, cultural aspects of the life of the world he lived in now. There were some things he learned but didn’t understand at all.

Such as, one night, really late, when he was leaving Changkyun’s room which was on the top floor of the log house he passed Hyunwoo’s room - that wouldn’t be strange after all, he used to pass it all the time. But this one time he went around the door he heard deep moans and groans from both Hyunwoo… and… Kihyun? At first Hyungwon couldn’t believe his ears so he stopped dead in his tracks, perplexed about the possibility of Kihyun being in distress, however he decided to leave it and go to his room. The next day he asked Changkyun about it discreetly and the youngest told him that if he ever heard that again, he should just continue walking and act as if he’s never heard anything… ever.

It was very, very early one morning and it was a night when Hyungwon got into a small conflict with Wonho again, so he couldn’t sleep all too well when suddenly noises came from the house.

“Everyone up!” Hyunwoo roared through the house like a mighty lion, his voice echoing through the walls. Hyungwon’s eyes shot open and he only noticed Wonho already getting out of his bed and taking of his sleepwear. Then the door to the room opened and Hyunwoo poked his head in. “We have a lead on Nam. We’re leaving for Port City in 15 minutes sharp.”

“Alright, I take Minhyuk, Jooheon and Changkyun. You take Kihyun,” Wonho replied as he followed Hyunwoo out of the room, not waiting for Hyungwon to fully get dressed in the rush of the early morning.

“And Hyungwon, Wonho. You cannot deliberately keep leaving him out,” Hyunwoo chastised Wonho gently about his approach to Hyungwon once again, but the voice of the giant was muffled over the sounds of everyone doing their last minute dressing and packing.

A week prior, Kihyun and Hyunwoo went to the town that was nearby the forest and came back with Hyungwon’s very own set of black clothes made for their work. He was given running shoes, pants made of durable material that still allowed Hyungwon all the range of motion he needed, a black hoodie and something that looked like a strange contraption at first, but when Kihyun explained what it was, Hyungwon immediately understood - it was a back sword holster, where Hyungwon would be able to comfortable carry both his chokuto.

Couple minutes later all 7 members were by the door, everyone shouldering their own bag.

“We might not be able to come back for a while, because no one knows how long the chase after Nam might take but guys, today I mean it more than any other day… let’s _all_ come back, okay?” Hyunwoo looked each and every one of them in the eye and the 6 men nodded, determined to return to the log house no matter what.

When they all got into their designated cars and drove through the forest out to ‘civilization’, Hyungwon realized it was his first time leaving the forest ever since his came to the Black world. On one hand he was looking forward to seeing something new, on the other he was scared because he came to love he log house and he really considered it his home.

“How long is the drive to Port City?” Hyungwon asked from the back seat.

“About 3 hours,” Kihyun replied from the passenger seat without taking his eyes off of the awakening woodlands. “Did you read the book I gave you? With the maps and everything?”

“Yes. I memorized the maps as well, I just didn’t realize it was that far,” Hyungwon admitted.

“It’s not but the terrain is really shitty. The roads to Port City from here haven’t gone through any kind of repair in a while, so,” Hyunwoo shrugged as he effortlessly drove on the difficult and bumpy dirt road. “But it’s good that he was seen in Port City. Wonho wanted to go there soon anyway.”

“Why?” Kihyun glanced at Hyunwoo.

“He talked to Bam the other day. Somi is apparently in Port City right now. He wants to talk to her,” Hyunwoo stated and Kihyun nodded his head thoughtfully, comprehending everything that’s been said. Hyungwon didn’t but another thing he learned from Changkyun was that sometimes it was better if you didn’t understand everything all the time.

Throughout the entire way to Port City Hyungwon stared out the window with fascination, watching the countryside fly by. Small houses appeared here and there, many in bad shape, many abandoned. Kihyun explained that those were houses that were on one of the biggest battle fields of the War.

“You don’t call it the Great War, I noticed,” Hyungwon noted curiously.

“Because there’s nothing _great_ about it,” Hyunwoo scoffed at Hyungwon’s remark. “People died fighting for freedom, when they shouldn’t have had to.”

Hyungwon only nodded thoughtfully in acknowledgment and thought back to the history classes he would take at school. _So those were lies then? Or they just altered their own truth?_

When the group arrived at Port City, Hyungwon has never seen a place so bustling with life. People were running from here to there, shouting and colliding with each other at the big market, where they have left their cars. Hyungwon could smell fish and his stomach turned slightly.

“Let’s go around and ask a couple of questions,” Hyunwoo said and then looked everyone in the eye. “Try to be discreet. We are not to raise suspicion, alright?”

“Minhyuk, Jooheon, take him with you. Kyun will go with me,” Wonho decided and walked off. Minhyuk shot Hyunwoo a glance but the eldest just shrugged and grimaced, leaving with Kihyun.

“Okay. Let’s get it!” Jooheon smiled and wrapped his arm over Hyungwon’s shoulder awkwardly.

“So what kind of information are we looking for?” Hyungwon asked wisely to the two. “I guess we ought not just go and demand if they’ve seen Nam, right?”

“Very correct,” Minhyuk smirked and chuckled lightly. “I also never know what to ask so I somehow randomly make a conversation. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t.”

“Best tactic we’ve ever had,” Jooheon agreed easily and beckoned for Hyungwon to follow them.

“But how are we supposed to find out something then?” Hyungwon murmured to himself, feeling a little insecure without his chokuto. Back in the log house he would have them with him at almost all times and now they seemed to have been an extension of his own hands. It felt weird walking among other people, not having something in his hands to carry.

Minhyuk and Jooheon stopped by one of the vendors smiling bright at him. “Hello, how much are these?” Minhyuk pointed to one jar of colorful candy.

“3.50 for ten pieces,” the vendor replied matter of factly.

“That much?” Jooheon’s jaw dropped in shock, but Hyungwon couldn’t decide if he was pretending or not.

“It’s not that much boys. You’re in Port City. What did you expect?” the man laughed them off. “Where are you from if it seems too much for you, huh?”

“Up north. Say, do you know of many people, who come from up north? We’re new here and it’s always nice to socialize with one of your own,” Minhyuk struck up a conversation changing the manners of his speech. Hyungwon could understand the words but it wasn’t the way Minhyuk normally talked - it sounded like a dialect. Plus they didn’t come from the north, but again Hyungwon decided to say nothing and wait it out to see what happens.

“No, not me. But, Hongjoon… the butcher over there in that shop,” the vendor lifted his finger, pointing to an actual shop at the market not a vending stall. “He bitched last week when we sat down for beer with friends that lately some guy from the north has been coming in on weekly basis, always trying to haggle the price down. Hongjoon sent him away many times saying he would never lower his price for someone he didn’t know, but the prick comes back every week apparently, doing the same thing over and over.” The vendor shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. “Some people don’t have backbones when it comes to businesses.”

“I know, right?” Jooheon dragged out and then reached into his pocket, pulling out some coins and then counting through them. “I have 3.50, exactly. Can we have 10?”

“Sure,” the vendor took the money and handed back a small brown paper back with the candy that Minhyuk wanted. The trap master smiled dearly at Jooheon and took the baggie from his hands.

“Thank you,” Minhyuk exclaimed excitedly.

“I was wondering,” Hyungwon spoke slowly and quietly, trying his best to mimic the same manner of speech that Minhyuk and Jooheon used, “any chance, which day the man comes around? Having to come all week and ask everyone where they’re from would probably get a little tiring, for one drink. Maybe even we don’t like him in the end.”

 _Wow where did this come from?_ Hyungwon asked himself, astounded by how he’s managed to question the man nonchalantly but covering it up like Minhyuk and Jooheon.

“I think Wednesday? Yeah, yeah, Wednesday Hongjoon said.”

“That’s tomorrow! Amazing! Thank you so much!” Minhyuk profusely showed his gratefulness and then the three made their way along more vendors.

When the trio finished their ‘round’ they made their ways back to the cars. “Do you think the north man could be Nam?” Jooheon seriously doubted it would be that easy to get and info on him.

“Not sure. He would be an idiot not to lie low. He has to know what bounty is on his head,” Minhyuk joined Jooheon in considering the option of the haggling guy not being their target.

“It’s worth checking out, though, no?” Hyungwon was interested in how they would move forward.

“I think so, but we’ll all have to sit down and talk about it,” Minhyuk told him, eating the 5th candy.

“You’ll have a stomach ache if you keep eating them, hyung,” Jooheon tisked at Minhyuk’s love for sour candy.

“No worry, I don’t care,” Minhyuk chewed as he talked. “What I do care about though, is Hyungwonnie here stunning us with the northern accent and the ability to ask good questions.”

Hyungwon felt the blood run to his cheeks as he blushed slightly. “I just watched what you two were doing, that’s all.”

“If that’s the only thing you did, man… you’re damn good. It took us years to get this comfortable around people while trying a dialect,” Jooheon admitted, happy with how fast Hyungwon was progressing.

“I don’t think I could do it alone,” Hyungwon mumbled but was saved the steps of approaching Hyunwoo and Kihyun, tailed by Wonho with Changkyun.

“Get in the cars, we’ll talk at Somi’s,” Hyunwoo walked over to the care he drove, Kihyun following him closely, while the rest of the group tailed Wonho.

Hyungwon didn’t know who Somi was but he just went by his gut that told him to trust the guys of the group. They arrived at a simple house tucked away at the edge of Port City. One would drive past this house and never take a second look, that’s how ordinary it was.

Both cars parked in front of the house and all 7 men got out. Wonho led the way to the house and once he approached the door, he banged on it loudly a couple of times.

“Oh jeez, what got his knickers so twisted?” a woman’s voice sounded from next to Jooheon as he stood at the very back of the group.

“I have no id-… Somi!” Jooheon exclaimed in surprise once he set his eyes on the short woman next to him. She smiled brightly at him and at Jooheon’s shout the whole group turned around and now faced Jooheon and the woman.

 _So this is Somi? But who is Somi?_ Hyungwon had a million more questions about why they were visiting some girl (frankly she looked very young) when they were supposed to be after their target. Only when this thought occurred to him, Hyungwon noticed how much his mindset has changed in the recent days.

“What are you doing there, banging on my door like you wanna take it down, huh?” she pushed through the group to where Wonho stood, staring him dead in the eye. “Step away or he’s going to tear you up.”

“What? Who is?” Wonho’s confused frown settled deeply on his face.

“Who? Who? Rusty,” Somi replied slightly annoyed and unlocked the door and that was when Hyungwon heard a very threatening growl coming from the other side of the cracked door. “It’s just me, Rus. Don’t worry, big boy.”

When the door opened a big black dog with pointy ears and brown paws jumped up and in between Somi and Wonho, showing his canines menacingly.

“When did you get a dog?” Changkyun shouted in excitement. That very moment the dog wanted to jump towards Changkyun, ready to make bite-size pieces of out him, but Somi caught him by the collar quickly and pushed the dog in between her legs. She bent down and whispered something into his ear that Hyungwon couldn’t hear, but the dog slowly calmed down and stopped thrashing around, trying to attack the men around his human.

“Sorry, Rusty isn’t used to friendly people coming by the house,” Somi explained as she scratched Rusty behind his short pointy ears. Suddenly the dog didn’t look as dangerous, when he was enjoying a good ear scratching. “I got Rusty about 8 months ago. He’s 1 and he’s a big protective boy, who loves to play like a puppy, isn’t that right, good boy? I’m still training him, but he shouldn’t hurt you unless you hurt me.”

“Can I pet him?” Minhyuk stepped closer.

“Inside. I don’t like standing around like this,” Somi waved for everyone to follow her into the house and only inside she let go of Rusty’s collar, who ran inward, knocking into one of the walls as he didn’t turn the corner completely right on the slippery floor.

Everyone took their shoes off and walked into the spacious main room of the house that may have looked incredibly ordinary from the outside but inside it looked almost as good as the log house. But to Hyungwon, nothing looked as good as the log house.

“If you want to play with him, Min, let him sniff you first and decide if he wants to. Don’t force him,” Somi warned Minhyuk. “Same goes for everyone else. Do you guys want to drink something?”

“Water is fine. Maybe coffee if you have any,” Hyunwoo asked politely of Somi, who shot him an ‘oh, come on’ glance and disappeared in the kitchen.

Couple minutes have passed during which everyone except Hyungwon played with the dog; gave him belly rubs and only then the true puppy personality came through. He really was just a puppy still, even if he had a strong protective streak.

“Wonho! Come help me!” a shout came from the kitchen and Wonho quickly went and came back tailing Somi, both carried platters. One full of glasses and a jug of water, the other full of mugs with coffee - Hyungwon could already tell by the smell. He found himself liking the bitter taste of cold coffee in the time he’s spent in the log house.

When everyone sat around and Rusty settled on the floor next to Somi with his head on her thigh - it was obvious whom he loved the most. “So to what do I owe the pleasure of having _the_ Monsta bounty hunters visiting me in full numbers _and_ with a new member…”

“This is Chae Hyungwon. He’s our new tracker,” Kihyun introduced Hyungwon. Somi smiled at him kindly as a response to his polite nod.

“Still… what are you doing in Port City?” Somi took a sip of her coffee.

“Can’t we just come and see you? We’ve only talked on the phone for the last year,” Wonho opened up but Somi’s laughter sounded through the room.

“You’re here because you’re looking for Nam,” she shook her head with a smirk, “and you most likely think that he’s here because someone gave a tip to the government.”

“How do you know that, noona?” Changkyun blurted out baffled by how accurate she was.

_Noona? Is she older than Changkyun? She doesn’t look like she is though…_

Another chuckle came from the amused woman. “Changkyun, you’re in the room with that one person, who can access classified government information at the drop of a hat. I know a lot more than you think.”

“It’s not the only thing we’re in Port City for,” Hyunwoo spoke quietly but evenly. “Bambam mentioned you would be here. We wanted to speak to you about something. But firstly, do you know anything of Nam?”

“Hyunwoo, I don’t think he’s here. Of course I may not be right because getting lost in the crowd of Port City is easy, but think about it for a second,” Somi said in a very reasoning voice, “his face is so known, everyone could recognize a guy, who’s accused of so many crimes and Port City is littered with bounty hunters, who would kill him even if there is hidden bounty on him and then demand money from the government. He would be stupid to stay in Port City and I genuinely don’t believe he’s not an intelligent person if he’s been able to avoid justice for so many years. He will hide for the rest of his life, most likely somewhere in the mountains, somewhere where he knows it, where he’s familiar with every nook and cranny.”

“Hmmm,” Hyunwoo hummed, nodding in agreement with Somi’s reasoning. “That’s not completely wrong though.”

“But why would we get the tip then?” Wonho asked quietly.

“To get you off track,” Somi replied as if it was that simple of a thing to understand and now Hyungwon has seen her reasons come to make sense. He didn’t know Nam that well, but he read the file Hyunwoo gave him on the man. He came from a city that dwelled in the mountains and he’s done many, many crimes including fraud, murder, rape and more. However Nam managed to avoid getting discovered by the authorities for more than 12 years. He was somewhat of a legend in the underworld.

“From what I read in the file he comes from a smaller city in the Deep Valley mountain range, right?” Hyungwon pronounced his thoughts out loud and the 7 people in the room turned to him. “Is it possible that there would be a spot somewhere in the mountains that is not far away from his hometown but is still hidden from sight, while looking out to the valley to see what’s coming at him?”

Wonho scoffed a little disgusted and Somi’s eyes whipped to him and then went back to Hyungwon. “There is definitely a spot like that in there. And if he knows the terrain he has a big advantage.”

“So you’re saying that it’s pointless for us to try and follow the lead we got today?” Minhyuk questioned seeming a little down.

“You got a lead?” Kihyun exclaimed utterly shocked by the statement.

“Yeah, why is it so weird that the three of us found something?” Jooheon stared feigning offense at Kihyun.

“Because you never get anything. You always slack off in this part of the process,” Hyunwoo finished his coffee calmly. He knew Minhyuk and Jooheon better than they might have thought.

“Well, we found out there some annoying northern man, who comes every week the butcher trying to haggle the price of the meat he buys. And even though the butcher has sent him away multiple times the guys still come back,” Minhyuk explained proudly.

“And did you two experts discover which day of the week it is?” Wonho enquired.

“We didn’t,” Minhyuk shook his head solemnly. Wonho huffed in frustration again.

“But Hyungwon did,” Jooheon slapped his hand onto Hyungwon’s shoulder.

“What?!” Wonho spat, his frown deepening.

“Wednesday. And if I’m not wrong… that’s tomorrow,” Hyungwon replied.

“Good job, Hyungwon,” Hyunwoo praised him.

“What about us?” Minhyuk shouted.

“Don’t we deserve a ‘good job’?” Jooheon joined him.

 _They must be somehow internally connected_ , Hyungwon thought about the synchronization of Minhyuk and Jooheon.

“You messed up enough times. Maybe after the next time you can get praise,” Kihyun crossed his arms over his chest.

“About the other thing we wanted…” Hyunwoo opened the topic, seemingly uncertain of how to continue, but when he was about to take another breath to begin again, Somi held up a hand, stopping him.

“I think I know what you want to ask,” she said confidently. “So if you don’t mind, I actually have a question.”

“Sure,” Hyunwoo agreed even though he was perplexed about what Somi has meant.

“Say, Hyungwon,” she directed all of her attention to the newest member of the group, who was surprised by having her asking him something directly, “are you from Second City?”

Utter shock flew through Hyungwon and his mouth fell open from how astonished and taken aback he was by the question. _How could she know?_ Not being able to find his voice, Hyungwon nodded.

“Did you follow me out?” she asked with the most confident smirk Hyungwon has ever seen and thought he would ever see. She wasn’t angry or upset, she seemed happy and cheerful.

Hyungwon was shook to the bones and he couldn’t believe his eyes and ears, so he just had to ask. “You’re- you’re the code author?”

“Yeah,” she confirmed, still grinning the same but she squared her shoulders a little more, showing that she was proud of the code.

“Thank you. Genuinely, thank you,” Hyungwon relaxed a little bit but didn’t forget how to politely express his gratefulness. “Is there any chance I could ask you a couple of questions?”

“How did you know?” Minhyuk exclaimed at the same time as Changkyun, both demanding the answer to the same question.

“Easy. Look at the way he’s sitting. I used to sit like that,” she told them, pointing with her chin to Hyungwon, who was indeed sitting a little too upright. Then she came back to Hyungwon. “You should get rid of those stiff manners, Hyungwon, you’ll stick out like a sore thumb.”

“Thanks, we wanted to clarify this,” Hyunwoo chuckled lightly patting Wonho’s shoulder and Hyungwon now understood that part of the conversation they had about him when he first arrived at the log house.

Somi’s eyes flew to Wonho then to Hyungwon, followed by Hyunwoo. She had a strange sense of understanding in them and Hyungwon feared she might know more than she let out.

“Can I talk to you privately, Somi?” Wonho gently enquired and Hyungwon had to once again admit he’s never seen this attitude from the man before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a lot to process this chapter, right? Hyungwon's doing really well on his training, for starters. 💪 Wonho still hates him... (but what's new...) 😩. The MinJooWon trio gets a lead on the northern man in Port City and the group meets an old friend Somi, who turns out to be the code author in the book that led Hyungwon out. What a small world, right? 🤗 What do you think Wonho wants to talk to Somi about? And what could the sounds coming from Hyunwoo's and Kihyun's room be that Changkyun told Won to just ignore? 🤔🤔🙊😅
> 
> Please let me know in the comments what you thought about this chapter, as knowing your opinions always makes my day so much better! 🤍🤗🥰
> 
> Next time: Somi makes a small-not-so-small request to Wonho during their talk, which Wonho will try his hardest to comply with and the gang follows MinJooWon's lead. 🤫
> 
> I hope you liked today's chapter and will come back to the next one to find out how the story will go! Until then, please take care and stay safe! 🥰🤗🤍ヾ(￣▽￣) Bye~Bye~


	7. The Desire for Freedom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello and welcome back to the World of Colors! 🤗🤍 I hope you enjoy today's chapter!

<Little journey to the talk between Wonho and Somi>

Wonho followed Somi into the separated kitchen of the old house and closed the door behind him. She leaned against the counter casually and watched him move to the small table she used for eating. Wonho sat down onto one of the two old chairs.

“So, what’s up?” she asked him first.

“Do you really trust him? Because I don’t think he is who he says he is,” Wonho replied determined to still not believe in what he’s just heard and with the resolution to not trust Hyungwon whatsoever.

Somi remained indifferent when she countered his question with another. “Why do you hate him so much?”

“I don’t _hate_ him,” Wonho scoffed largely and shrugged, avoiding Somi’s gaze. “I feel nothing towards him.”

“That’s a lie and you know it, Hoseok,” she sighed and crossed her arms over her chest as if that would get her point across better.

“Don’t call me that, please,” Wonho pleaded with a whine lacing his voice. He very much despised being called by his given name. Every time he heard it he was reminded of how his mother cried his name, begging him to help her the last time his father beat her. That time he beat her to death in his drunken stupor.

“Alright, I won’t. Sorry,” she apologized genuinely… after all, she knew all about it. “But tell me seriously… why do you hate the kid?”

“I told you… I don’t,” Wonho groaned, slightly frustrated with that question. The frustration rooted mainly in the fact that he did hate Chae Hyungwon. His gut told him that this kid will bring trouble to their group and even though he’s been around for a month he never shook that feeling off. Wonho hoped that being hostile would drive the younger away from his ‘family’ so that he could keep them safe for longer. But everyone else was so welcoming and ruined all of his attempts. There was no way Wonho would ever accept him.

“You do. And for no real reason, too,” she still stood her ground with this, never moving away from her position at the counter. “He’s a good kid, Wonho.”

“You don’t know him,” Wonho didn’t agree with her in the very least.

“I know people. I read people well and I can for sure read a White kid. He’s like an open book to me,” Somi stepped closer and sat down onto the other chair, leaning her back against the wall, just like Wonho was. “Are you still heartbroken that when we were 14 I left you alone to follow your dream to become a bounty hunter?”

Wonho shrugged and looked away from her, trying to show he didn’t care and never will, while the truth was the complete opposite. He might not have been heartbroken but he felt betrayed that his one of his only friends of that time left him to sail alone through life. _Plus, it’s not like it was my dream or whatever… money is money._

“You are, aren’t you?” she smiled a small one and reached out to brush her fingers over his forearm. “Look, at 14 I didn’t want to become a killer. Even today I still squirm at the sight of blood.”

“We are not killers,” Wonho protested for the 100th time to this statement. He stopped getting fired up about it, but he always reacted the same.

“You are, even if you do it according to the justice of the Black world, Wonho. It doesn’t change the fact that you kill people for money. That’s how I see it and I’m sorry but you will not change my opinion on this matter, so let’s leave that behind once again, okay?” she sat back into the previous position and Wonho nodded, acknowledging to let it go… _once again_. “Wonho…” Somi sighed, “there’s no real reason for you to hate Hyungwon if you never hated me.”

Wonho stared at his fingers with shoulders slightly slumped, thinking about what his instinct was telling him but also considering what Somi, who was his small (in human size) voice of reason was saying. Maybe… but just maybe he wasn’t all that bad?

“The kid just wanted to escape the monotonous life and have freedom that you guys take for granted from the moment you are born. It’s prison over the Wall… that’s not life and he wanted a taste of what the real thing is,” she continued to reason, siding with Hyungwon, instead of siding with the person, who saved her when she first arrived from the White world, someone, whom she called her best friend.

Wonho huffed and glanced up at Somi. “How do you know?”

“Because I was in his shoes, Wonho,” she said and her voice suddenly turned sad and heavy. “Did you know that the first year after the war and during the construction of the Wall there were still colors in the White cities?”

“No. How do you know?” Wonho shook his head, curious about what Somi just mentioned.

“My dad used to tell me the stories his grandfather, who fought in the war told him. He said that in the first year, the food still had taste and color - oranges were orange and the reddest strawberries were the sweetest. The white things that existed were the buildings and clothes that people wore. Nothing else… but once the Wall was completed, the country was solidly sealed off and the brainwashing began. Being White, thinking White, living White was the new trend… and those who decided not to follow the line were just simply… taken out of the equation.” Somi’s voice reached a new level of sadness as she re-told the stories she used to hear from her father.

“Did the people not wonder where they might have gone to?” Wonho questioned a little confused about the fact that no one would notice many people just disappearing.

“Of course they did. But that’s when the technological advancement came in handy. They developed a memory eraser, so they would just call you in and wipe your memory of the person they got rid off,” she explained and goose bumps jumped up all over Wonho’s skin. He’s never heard this before from her. Somi didn’t really like to talk about the life she lived over the Wall and if she did it was always the teachings her father and mother gave her. But Wonho never pressed her to tell him anything.

A thought occurred in Wonho’s mind about a certain family over the Wall. “What will happen to his family?”

“They will be re-located and their memories of Hyungwon will be gone forever. The people in Second City will just think they moved away. They will watch his family carefully in case he ever tries to come back. And if he does, they will take him in and torture for their own pleasure. I don’t know how but I can imagine it won’t be nice,” she spoke quietly in the last part as if lost in a memory.

“How do you know about this?”

“They killed my mom right before my eyes. My dad planned that hole in the Wall for the two of us after they killed my mother. But the only person, who made it through ended up being me. My dad stayed behind to let me live a life of freedom,” she sighed heavily, her eyes glassy as she stared at the ceiling wondering about the fate of the father she left behind. “There’s one big difference between me and Hyungwon though.”

“What is it?” Wonho leaned in closer to her, but missed the timing to grab her hand in order to give her a reassuring squeeze.

“I knew about the consequences my escape would have. He didn’t. He just wanted freedom, Wonho,” she whispered staring deeply into Wonho’s eyes, “even if he didn’t really know what it was.”

Wonho looked down, not being able to bear the heaviness of Somi’s gaze. He felt a little guilty for being so mean to someone, who really just wanted to see the world outside of his prison.

“Please don’t hate him. He’s just a kid, who didn’t know what was coming his way, when he made the journey for a life with no limitations, for a life with friends during which he could see colors and eat delicious food, because there was no way he would have had that there. Minds like his are so uncommon in that world, so please don’t hate him. Please give him a chance… just like you gave me one almost 9 years ago, although I was a White kid that you’ve never met before,” Somi begged him with kind but sad voice.

Wonho nodded solemnly. “I will try.”

“Thank you. That’s all I’m asking,” she smiled but there was that sadness of her past life in that smile. Wonho knew she has gone over a lot, but he never realized their pasts were that similar.

<Back to Hyungwon>

When Somi and Wonho left for their talk, Rusty made a beeline to where Hyungwon was sitting and placed his head on his lap, closing his eyes, seemingly dozing off. Hyungwon froze and didn’t dare to move an inch.

“Oooh, he likes you, hyung!” Jooheon laughed happily, but Hyungwon couldn’t say he shared the excitement really. He did have to say he was scared of the dog. He’s never encountered a dog before and this one was big, black and had sharp teeth. So excuse Hyungwon if he couldn’t be exactly the happiest person alive right now.

“Could it be that you smell similarly since both you and Somi are White?” Kihyun took a wild guess, but no one had the answer to that and since Hyungwon didn’t want to die he pushed all of the others out of his head, focusing his eyes on the dog that was comfortably resting in his lap.

It must have been about 20 minutes before the kitchen door opened and Rusty twitched but didn’t move. His ears turned in the direction of the sound but he didn’t open his eyes.

An amused laughter sounded from the door and Hyungwon raised his eyes. “Oh God, Rusty. What are you doing?” Somi laughed and the sound of her voice awoke the dog, suddenly running to his owner. She knelt down and hugged her four-legged companion. “Couldn’t you see that he is afraid of you, big boy, hm? He’s never seen a puppy like you before, because there’s no puppy like you, is there? Go get a ball, Rus, go!” And Rusty was off sprinting through the house towards the garden in the back, of course not forgetting to drift and slide around the corners of the rooms and tight hallways.

“He’s awesome, noona,” Jooheon showed his dimples and eye-smile.

“I know that, thank you. I’m very proud of my boy,” she mirrored the same facial expression, minus the dimples and anyone would be able to see how much she loved that dog.

“Why do you need such a large dog for protection?” Hyunwoo asked interested as something suddenly occurred to him.

“It’s not particularly safe to be a woman my size in this world,” Somi sighed and picked up her coffee to kickback whatever was left in the mug.

“We told you, we could get you a house in the town near us,” Minhyuk almost blamed Somi for never agreeing to live near them. He could say he very much enjoyed the troublemaker’s presence whenever she used to stop by in the log house. It would have been very nice to have her close.

“Yeah and have Wonho on my tail pretty much 24/7 and Kihyun coming around every day like the mother hen he is?” she chuckled sarcastically. “Sorry, but I think I’ll pass, plus… this way I can live with Rusty… _and_ I blend in way better in a big city than that small town.”

Kihyun seemed to want to say something in his defense but Hyungwon finally made a move and quietly released a breath he didn’t know he was holding and Somi turned to him, completely ignoring anything Kihyun might have tried to tell her. After all he knew how adamant she was in most of the things she did in life.

“You said you had questions, Won?”

“Won?” Hyungwon cocked his head in confusion.

“Yes. Hyung _won_ \- Won. You need a nickname or a shortened name in this group… look. Minhyuk - Min; Jooheon - Joo or Heonie, whichever is fine; Changkyun - Kyun, Kyunnie and I think Wonho here calls him Kkukkung from a time to time too; Kihyun - Ki and Hyunwoo… no Hyunwoo doesn’t have one. He’s just Hyunwoo,” she explained to him with a smug smile, Hyungwon wanted to ask about Wonho but caught his tongue before something could slip out, however he wasn’t that lucky or fast when it came to his eyes. “Of course, how could I forget about Wonho,” she tightened her lips, still smirking, seeming to begin a word starting with a ‘B’ or ‘P’ or ‘M’.

“Shut up,” Wonho grabbed the nape of her neck, whispering menacingly.

“Bunny,” she whispered loudly, laughing soundlessly and Hyungwon noticed Minhyuk and Jooheon biting their lips to hold in their own laughter.

“You’re so dead,” Wonho uttered but there was no malice lacing his voice.

Somi fought her way out of the hold and glanced to Hyungwon again. “If you want to talk, follow me out to the garden, Won.”

Hyungwon stood up and made his way behind Somi into a surprisingly green backyard where Rusty was already running around with a bright yellow ball in his mouth, acting like the big puppy he was.

“Rusty, ball,” Somi called out and pointed down at her feet. Rusty ran over, barely braking in front of Somi, laid down and dropped the wall, waiting for it to be thrown. Somi took it and with all the force she had she threw it far. “Sit with me?” she asked Hyungwon when Rusty ran off to retrieve the ball.

Hyungwon settled next to her, sitting with his back straight on the garden bench.

“You had questions,” Somi reminded him after a moment of silence passed.

“Ah, yes. The code - how did you even think of making something like this? Wouldn’t it be easier to disappear without a trace?” Hyungwon milled the question over and over in his head. “Thank you by the way… thanks to you I was able to make it out.”

“The code,” she sighed and watched Rusty play in the garden on his own as she was lost in thoughts. “Frankly, I wasn’t planning on making the code. It was something that came to my mind while I had to make countless trips to the library, since I couldn’t really go work at the Wall during the day. Those were many sleepless nights, let me tell you.”

Yes… that was another one of my questions. How did you make the hole? It definitely wasn’t dug out, so…” Hyungwon wanted to keep feeding his curiosity.

“Acid,” was Somi’s ‘simple’ answer.

“Acid?”

“Yes,” she confirmed. “My dad planned the whole thing after my mom died. I won’t get into detail how she did, but it wasn’t an accident. He worked as a scientist and he would make large batches of the acid in our laundry room. When I found out he wouldn’t make it, I knew I had to. So it took me 2 months of sleepless nights, during which I almost gave up so many times, got burned with acid, breathed in the fumes… but I had to make it out for him. And in the end I did.”

“How old were you when you got out?”

“14. I would say I’ve discovered the nasty end of the world a little too early in life,” she scoffed sarcastically and dug a little hole in the grass with her foot. As if the dog knew his human was in distress he came over and jumped up on the bench, settling into Somi’s side. She wrapped her arm around him and began to pet him.

“I had more questions for you, but I guess that they somehow blew out of my mind. Those ones were a little more technical, so maybe another time, I think,” Hyungwon scratched the back of his head. He had about 20 more questions, but he totally forgot what they were.

“Well, okay, but if you don’t mind I would like to share something with you, too.”

“Of course,” Hyungwon agreed to listen.

“People like you and I are unique. We are the dark spots of ink on the perfectly white paper that nobody wants to see or have, but we made the free choice to be those spots. We decided ourselves, for our own lives with our own minds that we don’t want to live in the prison that the White world is. Because, Hyungwon that is what it is - a prison. You and I wanted to taste real food, see colors and feel emotions freely, but that isn’t for everyone in the White world, Hyungwon,” she told him, he voice fading slowly into a more quiet and serious one.

“What do you mean?” Hyungwon was slightly confused by her words.

“I’m saying that this world is dangerous, Won. We didn’t want to live in a prison, so we escaped it for a life that threatens the likes of you and me every single day, but at least we have freedom, which is something the White people cannot say. They may live in safety, but they have no life. They may live, but they are not alive. So, my point is, Hyungwon, please live life with no regrets and don’t look back. _Be selfish_ and think of yourself, because there’s no one in the world, who cares for you the way you do yourself. And most importantly… don’t be hero… heroes don’t make it out alive at the end of this story,” her words shot into Hyungwon like a sharp arrow. He only now realized, looking back at the White world a little more closely one more time, how messed up it was.

The lives White people lived were really ones of robots… armies of the same cloned mind. The people there may have looked differently from each other, but what kind of a life it was if you could never make a free choice? Now more than ever, Hyungwon understood the gravity of the last statement.

“Thanks. I think I get exactly what you mean,” Hyungwon smiled weakly, sadness hitting him harder than he thought it would.

“Here, throw him a ball. He’s gonna like you better,” she pushed a ball his way.

“I think he likes me well enough,” Hyungwon tried to politely refuse.

“It’s therapeutic. Just try it,” she nudged him one more time and then Hyungwon gave in and threw the ball with all his might… and had to admit… she was right.

When the morning came and everyone said their goodbyes, Hyungwon remembered Somi’s words from last night: “Stay the night and go find your lead in the morning,” Somi offered the groups of bounty hunters that were dispersed around her house. “Even though I highly doubt it would be successful.”

He gave it a think-over at night and he was beginning to get more and more on her side. It was highly unlikely that a man like Nam would hide in Port City, where people definitely knew his face. Of course people knew him in the mountain town he came from, but according to Minhyuk people were more easily controlled or bribed if they had no money and/or if they felt something to a person from their hometown. People were loyal like that here.

“This is the plan,” Hyunwoo told the gathered group when they arrived at the market in the morning. “Hyungwon will go alone, staking out for the possibility of setting eye on Nam. You remember his looks, right?” Hyungwon nodded to Hyunwoo’s question.

Hyunwoo and Hyungwon went over his role for this morning last night, so he agreed without further questioning.

“Okay. Changkyun, Minhyuk, you know what to do, so go,” Hyunwoo glanced at the two and they were gone the second he finished his words.

“Wonho, Jooheon, you have eyes and Hyungwon and the butchery. Remember to wait for the signal Jooheon, not like last time,” the leader warned the axe wielder, who nodded in acknowledgement. “I’m going inside, too but I’ll try to block the possible way out if the man chooses to run.”

Hyungwon set out to go about his job watching the shop. His one chokuto hidden in the loose sleeve of his hoodie, while the other safely stored away in the car, since he really only needed one for the weird feeling of having something he could protect himself with. He settled in a shadow of one of the other shops and watched the butchery closely.

About an hour into Hyungwon’s stakeout a man entered the butcher’s shop and not even 2 minutes later he walked out backwards with Hongjoon the butcher shouting at him all over the street.

“How many times have I told you?! Don’t come to my shop to make stupid bargains. I’m not interested. If you can’t pay for my meat don’t come in!” the man’s heavy Port accent made it almost difficult for Hyungwon to comprehend everything that was said but he still couldn’t be 100% sure that it was their northern man, until Hongjoon continued in his hollering. “You northern scums are all the same! I never want to see you in my shop again!” He waved his butcher’s cleaver in the air, which sent the man running for his life out of the market place.

 _Well, that’s that,_ Hyungwon thought to himself and made his way out of the market to meet the rest of the members at the cars.

Kihyun was patiently waiting by the cars and when he noticed Hyungwon casually walk out, he made his way over. “It wasn’t him, was it?”

“No. It was some other guy. I’m afraid, just like yesterday, I will have to side with Somi’s opinion on the matter,” Hyungwon told Kihyun evenly, not showing any emotion.

The rest of the group arrived not long after Hyungwon with same expressionless faces.

“Let’s go home and re-plan a little bit. I’m already getting some ideas, but it will require a little more training for Hyungwon,” Hyunwoo decided, already thinking of ways to make their mountain journey successful if Nam truly was hiding there. And by successful, Hyunwoo had always meant that the _whole_ group returned home with their bounty in the pocket.

When the group divided back into the cars, Hyungwon could help but ask Hyunwoo about his next training. “Hyung, you said I have to practice some more. What is it going to be? For how long?”

“I think, since you’re pretty talented with moving around, it might not take you longer than two weeks. You need to get yourself used to climbing, Won,” Hyunwoo’s eyes were focused on the road, but Hyungwon somehow knew that driving came easy to the man by how relaxed he was at the steering wheel. The eldest hyung was also a little lost in thought - he wondered if it was going to work and how it just had to even if he wasn’t all that sure about it.

“Climb? You mean rock-climb?” Hyungwon cocked his head to the side in curiosity and leaned forward in the back seat.

“Also yes. You need to learn how to climb trees, rocks, but also how to hide - and I mean hide well. You might need to hide in the forest for a prolonged period of time if we find out that Nam is residing somewhere in the woods. We have never been in that terrain so we’ll need to map it out first, therefore you will need to master the stealthy movements in a forest area. We all have that down, but for now you’re only fast but not quiet and almost invisible. So that’s what we’re going to start working on when we get home - climbing, hiding and stealth,” Hyunwoo explained and Hyungwon nodded eagerly, looking forward to learning new stuff, to progressing further.

When Hyungwon woke up in the morning and when he walked into the market place he felt this thrill that he felt that moment when he discovered Somi’s note: ‘follow me out’ and it felt better than ever. Hyungwon just now realized it was adrenaline that made him react to these situations like this, but he had to say… he liked the rush he got out of it. He wanted to chase it and get more and more out of the well where it came from.

“Alright, hyung, I’ll do my best to learn quickly and meticulously,” Hyungwon sat back into his spot and watched the midday countryside pass behind the window. It was different than in the early morning of the previous day when they made their way to Port City and Hyungwon visualized himself training the new skills he was about to acquire.

He vaguely heard the conversation Hyunwoo had with Somi on the phone, telling her about what happened and that they would try what she suggested to him earlier in the morning. The call went on but Hyungwon was lost in the beauty of the country they were driving through as the trees’ leaves played with colors of fall from bright yellow to deep amber orange. It fascinated Hyungwon how colorful the nature was and he felt bitter that his childhood was robbed of these magnificent views.

It was mid-afternoon when the crew arrived back at the log house. They got out of their cars and picked up their bags to walk around to the main door. Hyungwon looked around himself on the sunny afternoon and stared at the sun rays coming in through the yellow trees that he now began to recognize as oaks, maples and beeches. There were more kinds of trees, but it wasn’t easy for Hyungwon to get to know them all since he didn’t have time for these kinds of things. But all new knowledge was good knowledge to Hyungwon.

Hyungwon noticed the members have already entered the house so he rushed to go in. As he ran up the stairs, he misplaced his foot on the top on and almost fell backwards down the stairs but something, better said _someone_ , caught him by the elbow.

“Careful,” Wonho’s quiet, strong and even voice sounded behind him and Hyungwon froze up for a short moment.

He re-gained his stability and glanced at Wonho, who was one step below him. “Thanks,” he said shyly, not knowing what else he could potentially say. As he got the words out, Wonho pushed past him but avoiding any further skin contact and walked into the house, silently holding the door as he was taking his shoes off.

Unsure if Wonho was holding the door for him or just for support, Hyungwon decided not to give it much further thought and quickly sped into the house before the older had the chance to release the door.

Hyungwon would like to think that Wonho was keeping the door open for him, even if it wasn’t true. He didn’t know where this idea came from, but it warmed him on this inside to think about it. So he just let it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there was a small glimpse into Wonho's past, but just a very small one, including a little insight into the relationship between Somi and Wonho. What do you think about it? Is she going to be an important and impactful character? 🤔 Hyungwon felt the rush of adrenaline and is slowly but surely getting to enjoy the hell out of it... maybe he was born for this? ✌ And last but definitely not least... that "Careful." What are your thoughts on that? 🤭
> 
> Please share your thoughts and opinions with me in the comments. I love having the chance to interact with you and it always makes my day! 🤍🤗🥰
> 
> Next time: Hyungwon begins another training and Wonho loses his temper. Due to what though? 🤫
> 
> I hope you liked the chapter and please stay safe and take care until the next one! 🥰🤗🤍ヾ(￣▽￣) Bye~Bye~


	8. Capture the Flag

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy this chapter full of training and Hyungwon becoming a little tougher. 🥰🤗

That night at dinner the group discussed how they were going to move forward. Hyunwoo enlightened them that they would take about 2 weeks, depending on Hyungwon’s speed of progress, to train his stealth ability and hide-out skills to be able to move more effectively in the mountain terrain.

Hyunwoo explained to Hyungwon one of the main trainings that he would do at least twice daily was ‘capture the flag’. In the first stage, Hyungwon would know where the flag was located, the trick being limited time and meeting for opponents such as Kihyun, Jooheon and Hyunwoo himself.

In the second stage Hyungwon would have the knowledge of location, but again time limitation, opponents and also Minhyuk’s traps and Changkyun sharpshooting on his back. The premise was that Hyungwon had to win the flag through various opponents or traps. He could pick his way not knowing, whom he would meet and if he planned his way well enough he might not meet anyone.

This second stage was a practice for Minhyuk and Changkyun as well. Minhyuk had to be smart about his traps, hide them well but not catch his allies in them. Changkyun’s shooting skills would be put to test by aiming at a fast moving target, who would also be wearing clothes to blend into the forest as much as possible. This part of the training could really be a challenge for all three.

Third and final stage was more of a recon practice on enemy lands. Hyunwoo, Kihyun and Jooheon would be ‘patrolling’ the area, Minhyuk would do his job as trap master and Changkyun would be back with his bow and arrows with paintball tips, searching for Hyungwon, who on the other hand would have absolutely no information on where the flag would be hidden It could be high up in the tree or in a crevice between two rocks and this solely depended on the creativity of the group. And basically Hyungwon had to get out ‘alive’, which meant not meeting any of the ‘guards’, setting off and traps or getting ‘shot’ by Changkyun.

In between capture the flag exercises there would be climbing practice and purpose driven hide and seek, during which Hyungwon would be given exactly 1 minute to get away from the log house as far as possible and hide somewhere in the woods, while the others searched for him. His mission was to get back to the log house as soon as he could without getting caught by anyone from the ‘enemies’, who were allowed to make any strategy they wanted.

“Basically, during all of these exercises you have to not only outrun us, Won, but also out-smart us. No one here will have mercy on you,” Hyunwoo closed the discussion that evening decisively. The rest nodded agreeing to what had just been said.

“Will there be a night drill?” Changkyun questioned interested. “I wouldn’t mind getting a chance to practice my night vision.”

“Of course there will, Kyunnie,” Hyunwoo looked over at the youngest fondly. “I remember you have been begging me for a night time training for while.”

“Yes!” Changkyun called out victoriously and then with that sparkle in his eyes the 18-year old glanced over at Hyungwon. “I won’t go easy on you, hyung, don’t worry.”

Hyungwon scoffed very lightly, it couldn’t really be even considered a ‘scoff’ in the Black world, but to Hyungwon it was something that he never expected him to do in the first place. However he couldn’t stop himself from giving out the smallest of huffs. “Don’t worry, Kyun, I’ll run fast.”

“Finally, something’s happening around here,” Kihyun sighed contently as he stared at the two exchanging challenges for the CTF practices.

“You say it as if we sit on our asses most of the time, hyung,” Jooheon made a remark hoping he would get a little praise but completely forgot whom he was talking to.

“I say it because you do. You and Minhyuk in particular, often joined by Wonho,” Kihyun smacked Jooheon over his head with a spoon.

“Hey!” Minhyuk exclaimed wanting to protest against Kihyun’s statement. “If I’m sitting around I’m always drawing a new scheme for a trap, so don’t put me into the same bag as those two.”

Jooheon seemed he wanted to say something when he glanced at Wonho, expecting the older to also make his point on this know. However Wonho was lost in deep thought, barely registering anything that was told during the dinner or the plan discussion. Only now when the silence enveloped the room, he realized that everyone was staring at him waiting for him to speak.

“Hm? What?” Wonho asked with an incomprehensive expression on his face.

“Kihyun was just insulting you, hyung,” Jooheon whined slightly, trying to show off his cute side.

“Oh, okay,” was all that Wonho said about it. Normally, he would get engaged with Kihyun over even the smallest of things, but not today and that looked weird to everyone.

“Wonho? Are you okay?” Hyunwoo tried to pry Wonho’s thoughts out of him.

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine. Just thinking about something Somi said to me, that’s all,” Wonho shrugged it off and stood up to place his bowls in the sink. “I’ll wash the dishes tonight, alright?”

“Thanks,” Kihyun said perplexed by what he’s just seen and heard. No one in the house ever wanted to wash the dishes even if there were only a couple of bowls and glasses. This chore has always been avoided as if it was the plague. And now Wonho was offering to do it? What thing must have Somi told him if he was this lost in his own mind?

Hyungwon talked with Changkyun for a long time again but the tiredness grew over him and he went to bed only a couple minutes before midnight. He found Wonho still up, studying some documents carefully on his bed.

He made sure to not make any noise as he was getting ready to sleep as to not disturb Wonho. Thinking he was successful because the man has never lifted his head or eyes from the papers Hyungwon laid into bed and covered himself with a duvet.

“I spoke to Hyunwoo hyung,” Wonho mentioned quietly, evenly as if it wasn’t even important. And for a moment Hyungwon wasn’t completely sure that Wonho was even talking to him. “In the ‘capture the flag’ I will be your ally.”

Hyungwon turned around on the bed, so that he could look at Wonho, but the man never changed his position, still read the documents he was holding intently. For another moment, Hyungwon hesitated… considering whether or not he was having hallucinations.

“Uhm, thank you,” he replied shyly not know what to say about this.

“Just don’t get me ‘killed’,” Wonho responded coolly, his eyes never leaving whatever he was reading.

The first stage was a breeze for Hyungwon. Out of 5 practices he managed to either completely avoid all three opponents or sneak past them when he encountered them. So 5 out of 5 - easy A. Hyungwon was a faster runner than they expected (in Kihyun’s words) because apparently the runs he’s been doing the previous weeks haven’t been enough of a proof. In this stage Wonho hasn’t been much of a help. He usually just waited at the starting point until Hyungwon returned with the flag.

However, in the second where Minhyuk and Changkyun were joining in, Hyungwon suggested a strategy, which failed _big time_ in the first round with both Hyungwon and Wonho getting a blue paint mark onto their backs as Changkyun’s laughter echoed through the forest.

It was the end of the second day of training and Hyungwon went to take a shower before bed feeling very defeated about how both him and Wonho ‘died’ by Changkyun’s arrows. When he walked back into the room with slumped shoulders and a tired step, Wonho was lying on the bed reading some papers again, fully immersed in the text.

With a very quiet huff Hyungwon fell onto the bed, turning away from the large man on the opposite side of the room.

“I told you not to get me ‘killed’,” Wonho spoke into the silence of the room with a balanced voice. There was no annoyance or anger lacing the statement, which somewhat surprised Hyungwon.

“I’m sorry,” Hyungwon whispered back apologetically. “I guess I’m not as good of a strategist as Hyunwoo hyung.”

“No one is,” with that Wonho turned off the bedside lamp and the room was enveloped in darkness, “so don’t take it to heart.”

The last part of that sentence yet again felt like something Hyungwon imagined or dreamed of, he turned around on the bed and looked over to the other bed. After so many weeks of the night being so dark, Hyungwon’s eyes adjusted and thanks to the faint moonlight he was able to make out the outline of Wonho’s body as he laid on his back.

 _Thanks_ , he sent a silent word of gratitude towards Wonho, because he was too shy, scared or nervous to say it out loud.

The next day the second stage of training continued but this time Hyungwon would have made it if only he had enough time in the first couple of tries because he was just way too cautious about getting himself and Wonho shot again. These times, Wonho began to think as a singular allied entity, not waiting for Hyungwon to come up with a plan so it seemed more like a real time simulation.

Minhyuk was too good at placing traps into spots that Hyungwon couldn’t see, so of course the White got caught in one every other run of CTF. Hyungwon was so frustrated with himself because after catching in the first one, he spent almost the entire night studying the map of the forest. He knew he would have the advantage in the Deep Valley mountain range but he would have satellite pictures, so he practiced with the once that Kihyun got him of the woods that surrounded the log house.

But to no avail, really - Minhyunk’s loud (and eventually _annoying_ ) laughter sounded through the calmness of the forest every time Hyungwon was captured. Of course the trap master would never miss the chance to talk about it at dinner again. Oh, how Hyungwon just wanted Minhyuk to shut up about it… or at least stop making fun of him.

“You should sleep on it,” Wonho told him one night after another very unsuccessful day as he turned off the light in the room. The darkness fell over the papers Hyungwon was studying and he truly wanted to make an irritated remark but he could not bring himself to say anything to the only person, who was his ally in the CTF exercises. So following the advice he went to bed.

“Flag!” Hyungwon whispered victoriously after finding the flag in the forest for the first time of the second stage. The morning simulation blew into his face… literally. Hyungwon set off a pink smoke trap that Minhyuk planted two games prior. And the laugh that echoed… Hyungwon barely held in his rage.

Hyungwon checked the perimeter carefully, listened to every branch creek and crack, he checked a space where he could hide after he got hold of the small red piece of fabric before he shot out of his hiding place. Catching the flag between his fingers and hiding back again, Hyungwon’s heart was all the way up his throat when he tried to breathe in and out as quietly as he humanly could.

The woods were quiet and not even a leaf moved on the ground. He orientated himself about his position in the forest and how far it was to the log, house where he had to return with the flag. He knew he needed to move fast before the others find out the flag was taken by Hyungwon.

Silently stepping onto the ground outside his hiding spot, Hyungwon sprinted across the forest, skillfully avoiding all of the traps this time (okay, maybe there was a little bit of luck involved in it too) but he began to recognize the patterns that Minhyuk used to cover the traps.

He ran as fast as he could, but suddenly he came to a fast halt.

Someone was in front of him.

Hyungwon jumped into a small crevice between two rocks that was hidden behind tree leaves and he noticed Hyunwoo walking towards him, looking alerted. He knew Hyungwon or Wonho were there. He just couldn’t see the tracker.

Then Hyungwon detected Wonho to his right, who saw Hyungwon and where he was taking cover. Hyunwoo was walking right towards him, when Wonho picked up a branch and cracked it loudly in the silence of the forest.

Hyunwoo turned that way but didn’t begin walking just kept watching the forest move carefully. “Changkyun, check my 8 to 10 o’clock,” Hyunwoo communicated with the sharpshooter through a radio.

 _They have radio? Damn, of course they always knew everything about me_ , Hyungwon thought to himself irritated slightly.

“Nothing there, hyung. Proceed,” Changkyun replied, but Hyungwon didn’t hear him thanks to the radio on Hyunwoo.

_He’s somewhere around._

Hyungwon made as little movement as possible but he searched all around himself.

And then he found Im Changkyun…

The sharpshooter was higher up on the tree underneath which Hyungwon was hiding. He couldn’t believe his luck because he obviously approached Changkyun from the back, not even realizing he could be up in the tree and now he was in his only blind spot.

Hyungwon’s eyes found Wonho once again and the other was watching him from his own spot behind a wide trunk, out of sight for Changkyun and Hyunwoo. Hyungwon signaled to him that Changkyun was in the tree above him.

Wonho made minimal movement but risky enough if Changkyun would looking that way, but once he saw the youngest and confirmed his whereabouts he quickly locked his eyes back on Hyungwon and nodded. Hyunwoo was still hesitating where to go, so Wonho took the chance and reached for his slingshot.

Pulling the string back, Wonho targeted Changkyun and released the red colored paint ball.

“Oh, fuck,” Hyungwon heard Changkyun’s deep voice from above him. Chancing a glance at Wonho, he smiled and nodded at Hyungwon. He knew Hyungwon needed a distraction so that he could run to the house, so he began sprinting the other way.

Hyunwoo heard the footsteps and set off to follow them.

 _Thanks_ , Hyungwon broke into a furious run and the moment he reached the back yard he yelled from the top of his lungs: “AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!”

Echo sounded through the forest and then sudden sound of footsteps, followed by the appearance of worried Kihyun coming around the house to the back yard from the front. “What? What? What? Are you okay?” Kihyun couldn’t deny the healer with caring nature in him.

Hyungwon took a deep breath in, pulled out the hidden flag from his pocket and waved it in front of Kihyun victoriously with the brightest smile Hyungwon has ever produced. He was so darn proud of himself in this moment. He hasn’t felt happier in his life so far.

_This is the best feeling EVER!_

Kihyun’s lips also stretched into a wide smile as he ran to Hyungwon and hugged him tightly before shouting so that the whole world could hear him. “YEEEEESSSS!!!”

“What happened?!” Jooheon appeared breathless from the side of the house as well, obviously running through the terrain when he heard the first yell. Then he noticed the red flag in Hyungwon’s hands and the smirk of victory that settled on his face and with a huff he fell down onto his butt. “Don’t do this to me, hyung. I really thought something happened to you,” he desperately pleaded while trying to catch his breath.

Hyunwoo and Wonho appeared together from the other side where Jooheon was, closely followed by Changkyun who had a red blotch of paint on his torso. Hyunwoo and Wonho smiled happily and Changkyun pouted slightly when he loudly proclaimed: “I still can’t believe you shot me, hyung.”

“No one said I can’t, Kyunnie… and if there’s no rule against it, I don’t see a reason for me not to,” Wonho shrugged and ruffled Changkyun’s hair adoringly since the youngest took off his hood. Hyunwoo chuckled at the sight of them and smiled at Hyungwon, who just couldn’t seem to wipe that grin off of his face.

“Hyung, he shot me” Changkyun ran to Kihyun sulking like a little kid, slightly sticking out his lower lip.

Kihyun cooed at him and the cuteness of the maknae that couldn’t be seen too often. “Aww you poor baby,” he pinched his cheeks lightly, his voice dripping of sarcasm.

“But, hyung, I’ll have a big bruise on my ribs,” Changkyun pointed to his ribs to prove his point.

“It’ll be gone by the time you get married,” Kihyun reassured him with the words his mother used to tell him when tiny little Yoo Kihyun got hurt and cried about it.

“Hyuuung,” Changkyun whined, “won’t you rub some ointment on it, please?”

“I can give you something and you will rub it in yourself,” Kihyun decided, closing the discussion for now.

Minhyuk appeared as the last one casually strolling into the back yard. “Congrats, Wonnie,” he highfived the tracker and smiled like the sunshine he was. “So what now, hyung? Stage three?”

“Not today,” Hyunwoo replied, crossing his arms over his chest, “we have had a couple of climbing practices, so we’ll do that for about an hour and then before dinner we’ll do a couple rounds of hide and seek drill. In that one, Won, you’re on your own and Wonho comes to our side. After dinner, we’ll do a night drill run, in which your will run through the forest and Changkyun will try to take you down with his choice of a weapon. That’s for your speed and for Kyun’s night vision skills.”

Hyungwon nodded in acknowledgement, full of energy and euphoria from his win over the second stage of capture the flag.

The night drill was nothing like Hyungwon imagined it to be. It was scary to run through the forest knowing there was someone hunting you. On top of which, this someone could see in the dark, while he couldn’t and the only thing he _could_ do was run as fast as possible through a terrain that looked nothing like it did during the day with weird creepy sounds coming from left and right as the night animals came to life when the darkness fell.

Hyungwon knew he didn’t really have a reason to be… but _damn_ … he was scared for his life when he ran among the trees. He’s already avoided a couple of shots, one of them even whooshed around his ear, but the paint splattered on the tree that he left behind as he put more strength into his step. Even though he knew the arrows wouldn’t hurt him it was so terrifying being the hunted one.

After his third large lap around the grounds that belonged to Monsta, Hyungwon was called back into the house. The three laps took him about 30 minutes but he was completely drenched in sweat. With a large relieved exhale Hyungwon seated himself at the stairs to the front entrance and tried hard to sort through his thoughts.

He gripped his hair, feeling like pulling it out when a gush of fear ran over his body like a tidal wave and suddenly there was nothing else but this weird kind of a panic that enveloped him in its cold embrace and Hyungwon felt like drowning. He was under water and he couldn’t breathe, no matter how hard he tried there was no air coming into his lungs.

Time passed quickly or slowly, but Hyungwon couldn’t tell. Maybe he sat there for 20 minutes or perhaps just 2 before a strong hand landed on his shoulder bringing him back to reality.

“You alright?” Wonho’s voice sounded from behind Hyungwon as he still cradled his head, staring at his feet.

Not really knowing what to say because he was… but at the same time wasn’t okay, so Hyungwon just nodded as the answer. Then the hand was gone and Hyungwon half-expected for the feeling of drowning to return but it didn’t. _Thank God._

“Come inside then,” Wonho left the door cracked opened for the younger man and small front porch was lit with the warm light coming from the log house. Couple seconds after Wonho left, Hyungwon heard the group laugh at something and a small voice in Hyungwon’s head told him: _This is home_.

Something was chasing Hyungwon.

He didn’t know what it was, but he was running, running, running for his life, barely able to catch a breath. Hyungwon chanced a glance behind him but he saw nothing except the dark scary woods. The eerie silence and creaking of trees was all Hyungwon’s ears detected but nevertheless he kept running.

However no matter how much he ran, he couldn’t escape.

Suddenly he jerked awake, breathing heavily in and out just like he was in his nightmare, cold sweat dropped down his temples and into his hair.

When his vision corrected itself, he saw Wonho’s face leaning down from above him in the dim light of their room, casted by Wonho’s bed side lamp being turned on. Wonho’s hand was holding Hyungwon by the shoulder, grounding him and Hyungwon subconsciously began to find solace in it.

“Did you just have a nightmare?” Wonho asked softly, sounding concerned about Hyungwon.

“Yeah,” Hyungwon confirmed, still trying to calm his hard breathing. “Something was chasing me. Oh God… I was so… scared. It felt so real.”

“It wasn’t. You’re safe inside the log house. Try going back to sleep,” Wonho whispered to him reassuringly. Hyungwon nodded, finally in control of his inhales and exhales. He turned around on the bed, pushing everything out of his mind so hard that he never noticed Wonho softly closing the door on his way out of the room in the middle of the night.

<Let’s follow Wonho for a bit, shall we?>

When the door clicked closed behind him, Wonho left out a quiet irritated growl mixed with a groan. He was torn awake from sleep by Hyungwon’s breathing getting very ragged and when he switched the light on; his roommate was bathing in cold sweat, his otherwise perfect face wrinkled in a deep scowl and he sounded as if he had just sprinted a marathon.

Wonho quickly understood the younger was having a pretty bad nightmare. He had to shake Hyungwon 5 times before finally the tracker opened his unfocused eyes.

Walking through the hallway of the house, passing the stairs, which led to the top floor where Changkyun had his room and where Kihyun had his medical room, Wonho stopped in front of the room Hyunwoo and Kihyun shared. He had no idea what time it was but what just happened in his room was not funny and he couldn’t give a single fuck about waking anyone up at this point.

He banged on the door with his fist rather loudly 3 times at first. Then second 3 bangs, third and fourth set before the door flew open and Hyunwoo’s tired face appeared instead of them. “Wonho? Do you even know what time it is?”

“No,” he barked out in a slightly hushed voice, “and I don’t care. But what I do care about is my roommate having nightmares because of your stupid as shit idea of him being chased through the night time forest with a target on his back for Changkyun to shoot at. First, I found him on the front steps having a fucking panic attack because of what had just happened to him and now I had to vigorously shake him out of a fucking nightmare, in which - _surprise, surprise_ \- he was being chased through a fucking forest.”

To say that Hyunwoo was stunned by Wonho’s words as a major understatement. It hit him like a freight train.

“He’s not like us, hyung. He didn’t grow up like us, so you can’t just dump all of this shit on him and expect him to be fine and simply roll with it. Wake up, hyung, or you’re going to _destroy_ the kid,” and with that Wonho stomped off back to his bedroom to catch the couple hours he had left before having to wake up again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you imagine Minhyuk's and Changkyun's triumphant laughter when they caught Hyungwon echoing through the forest? 🤭 Hyunwoo seems to be one hella good strategist, eh? 🤔 Wonho became Hyungwon's ally in the drills - what are your thoughts on this? And finally... Wonho lost his nerves after seeing Hyungwon in a nightmare - is it just me or are we seeing development? 🤔🤔 Also... pouty Changkyun...? 😍🥺
> 
> Please share your thoughts and opinions with me in the comments. I love reading them and having a chance to interact with you 🥰🤗🤍
> 
> Next time: Wonho shows his protective streak one more time and the group sets off to the mountains to hit their target. Also... Wonho shares a story with Hyungwon - what could it be? 🤫
> 
> I hope you liked today's chapter and until next one please take care and stay safe! 🤗🥰🤍ヾ(￣▽￣) Bye~Bye~

**Author's Note:**

> That's all for now folks, thanks for reading, drop a kudo <3 and/or a comment if you like the story and see you in the next chapter or my other stories!ヽ(*￣▽￣*)ノ


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